Infinite Legacy
by Deiru Tamashi
Summary: Ophis has come to the conclusion that the best way to defeat Great Red… is to have a child. Eighteen years later, a new student has appeared at Kuoh Academy. A student who goes by the name of Deiru Ouroboros. How will his presence affect the DxD world? We shall see. OCxHarem and IsseixHarem, rated M for violence and explicit material. Please review!
1. Chapter 1: Ophis's Plan

**Author's Note: Hello, this is Deiru Tamashi, and I have come back with another fanfiction, this time one that revolves around the world of** _ **Highschool: DxD**_ **and all the comedy, adventure and plot therein. The ides for this fic was actually originally a plot bunny of mine, but it has lingered in my head and evolved to the point that I have chosen to actually make it into a fic. So tell me what you guys think of it, and write a review!**

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Summary: Ophis has come to the conclusion that the best way to defeat Great Red… is to have a child. Eighteen years later, a new student has appeared at Kuoh Academy. A student who goes by the name of Deiru Ouroboros. How will his presence affect the DxD world? We shall see.

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High School DxD: Infinite Legacy

Chapter 1: Ophis's Plan

 **Venice, Italy, 19 Years before the Beginning of the Series**

Sitting at a café by one of Venice's many rivers, surrounded by humans, was a very _different_ individual. This individual had the appearance of a girl who couldn't have been any older than 10 years old, and was short enough that she was able to swing her legs back and forth as she sat in her chair. Her large eye were a neutral gray and her hair was black as night, as well as long enough that it reached down to her hips. Hidden by her hair, her ears had pointed tips, signifying that she was not human. Her outfit was that of a gothic Lolita.

This "young girl", as the humans who passed by her saw her as, was Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God and strongest dragon in existence.

Ophis sat at the café and watched humans live their lives around her. Some were enjoying coffee and bread, others were talking amongst friends, there was even a young couple that was enjoying a gondola ride while look lovingly into each other's eyes. Indeed, the actions that humans were able to take were many and varied in an iconic city such as this, and the general air seemed to be one of happiness and excitement.

She could not understand any of it.

Why did humans enjoy making such noise and acting with such energy? Perhaps, because their lives were so much shorter, they acted so much more energetically in their actions to compensate. Or maybe they were just naturally inclined to make so much noise. Depending on what they believed, humans _were_ supposed to be descended from primates, after all. Then again, considering that Ophis desired silence above all else, that could be her own bias talking.

By now, you must be wondering why Ophis was even sitting there in the first place. Why would a being as powerful as the Ouroboros Dragon be sitting amongst humans when she desired to be amongst silence, much less at a place as noisy as a café? The answer, actually, was pretty simple. Ophis wasn't sitting amongst silence because she was unable to do so.

She actually _had_ the perfect and most quiet place where Ophis could enjoy the silence she loved so much. The place was none other than the Dimensional Gap, the void between dimensions where the dragon goddess was born and lived for countless millennia. However, Ophis had, at one point in her life, left the Dimensional Gap behind and entered the rest of the dimensions.

When Ophis returned to her home, afterwards, she found that it had a new tenant.

A massive and truly mighty dragon that went by the name of Great Red had taken up residence in her home, and refused to leave it after coming to a place that was perfect for him to cause all the chaos he wished without destroying entire continents. Seeing as Great Red was also known as the "Apocalypse Dragon", then it is likely that such would indeed occur if he did his stunts anywhere else.

While having the freedom to act as he wished was good for Great Red, this left Ophis in a bind. Above all else was her desire to return to her home and reclaim that world of silence, but Great Red prevented her from that. And as much as she disliked it, neither she nor Great Red had the level of power needed to defeat one another. So, if Ophis was going to evict Great Red from the Dimensional Gap. How was Ophis going to get that kind of help? The answer to that was simple as well.

Ophis had decided that she was going to have a child.

Now, before this decision is balked at, let things be considered from Ophis's point of view. If she was going to gather enough powerful allies to defeat Great Red and force him from the Gap, then the forces that Ophis brought together needed to be exceptional in strength. From devils to angels to exceptional humans to other dragons, every person she recruited had to be strong and would help in her battle. And who would be more beneficial in a fight against Great Red than someone who shared her blood?

If Ophis were to have a child, than that child would receive her blood and all the power thereunto pertaining. Granted, that child would likely not reach the same level of power as herself, but he or she would still be a force to be reckoned with. And what's more, if she could find a strong enough person to be the child's other parent, then that child would have the other parent's strength as well and truly become formidable. So, Ophis had come to the conclusion that the best way to defeat Great Red was to have a child.

But that in turn begged the next question: who should she have the child with? Tilting her head back and ignoring the humans around her, Ophis closed her eyes as she thought further.

First, the smartest choice would be to decide what race of being she wanted her child to be half of. Her own sense of bias immediately turned her thoughts towards it being another dragon, which would in turn allow her to have a child that was a pure-blooded dragon. However, that thought was discarded, as while her child would have 100% dragon's blood, the only two dragons she could consider "worthy" of siring her child her the Two Heavenly Dragons, which were both perpetually stuck in their Sacred Gears. That ruled out the dragons.

Next, there were the Yokai to consider. It was not a bad suggestion, as having Yokai blood would enable her child to wield Youjutsu and eve, to a lesser degree, Senjutsu. Being able to wield the power of nature itself was definitely a major bonus. Not only that, but each race of Yokai had their own unique abilities, from the Kitsune's control of fire to the enhanced reflexes and senses of Nekomata. Unfortunately, there existed very few Yokai left in the world, and none of them at that current point in time had the power she desired for her child. So, no Yokai.

Humans were also considered on the basis that there had been many notable humans throughout history of great power, and possessed remarkable skills at bringing other beings together for a common purpose. If Ophis's child were to be born half-human, they had the chance of being a great leader and fighter. Not only that, but there was the very slight possbility that her child would be born with one of the greatest gifts God had given to humans: a Sacred Gear.

However, humans too were discarded as non-viable. While having a half-human child did means there was the possibility of all those benefits, there was no guarantee of it like the other races. And not only that, but the chances of her child getting a Sacred Gear were about one in a million. That was a gamble that Ophis was unwilling to take.

Now, Ophis considered the three largest of remaining races: Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils. Angels was an instant no-go, as there was no way for her to convince any angel, male or female, to sire her child without having that Angel become Fallen in the process. That narrowed the field to Fallen Angels and Devils. Fallen Angles was not a bad idea, as there were certainly more than a few stronger beings within their ranks, their leader Azazel being a prime example.

Ophis hummed. Now, that was actually not a bad idea. If she were to manage to get into bed with Azazel and become impregnated via his seed, then her child with have the genetics of a _twelve_ -winged Fallen Angel. That would in turn mean that her child would have access to the powers of using light as a weapon, as well as the intelligence that Azazel himself had displayed as leader of the Grigori throughout the centuries. The fact that Azazel was a known pervert could even mean that getting him to have sex with her would be easier.

That was honestly saying little, thought. While Azazel _was_ a "ladies' man" and was reputed to have fallen because of his own lust in first place, that intelligence he had displayed meant that he was unlikely to be fooled into being seduced and would instead discover her intention before they even got into bed. And there was the fact that Azazel's pervertedness could possibly be passed down to her child.

Ophis shuddered at that. If there was one thing that her child would _not_ be, it was a pervert.

Which meant that she now turned her thoughts to the last candidate. The Devils. Like the Fallen Angels, the Devils were a large faction and possessed several powerful beings. Heck, their entire system of government revolved around being led by four Devils of extreme power: the Maou. Each one of them were strong beings in their own right, and to have a child with one of them would make certain that her child would be as powerful as she envisioned.

Not only that, but the fact that there were _four_ Devil leaders quadrupled her chances of having her desired child. Also, if her child had Devil blood, then there was a very significant bonus that he or she would have—the ability to use Evil Pieces and build a peerage. That thought actually caused her to release a small smile. Yes, the idea of her child growing to be a strong devil/dragon hybrid and building their own peerage was one that she liked a lot.

It was decided, then. Ophis would have a child with one of the four Maou.

But which Maou would she choose from? There was Serafall Leviathan, Ajuka Beelzebub, Sirzechs Lucifer, and Falbium Asmodeus. Perhaps it was because of the fact that Ophis had been in a female form for the past few centures, but she felt the desire to actually give birth to the child herself, rather than impregnate someone. That ruled out Serafall Leviathan. Falbium was also ruled out, as she had seen the man's almost inhuman sense of sloth and had no desire for her child to be such a slacker.

Ajuka was almost cast off for the same reason, but it had been shown that the Astaroth devil was dependable when needed. And his intelligence was also far above that of his peers for him to do something such as create the Evil Pieces themselves. Were she to seduce Ajuka as well, then she would also be in his home, which would the prime place for her to steal a set of Evil Pieces for her child to use in the future as well.

But, in the end, Ophis decided against seducing Ajuka as well, as the man's passion for inventing was sometimes even greater than his dedication to his job as Maou, which was not a trait she desired in her child. And even if she did not seduce Ajuka, she could still sneak into his estate and steal a set of pieces later. You would be amazed what being a true shapeshifter like herself enabled her to do.

Which mean that the field of candidates for the other parent of her child was narrowed down to one: Sirzechs Lucifer.

Ophis retained her smile at that. Out of all of the Maou, the former heir to the Gremory house was by far the most powerful of them. Not only that, but the Maou was known for his kindness and preference towards avoiding combat. That said, he would not hesitate if he needed to fight, and was _very_ devoted to his family. Rumors were that when the Lord and Lady of the Gremory house told Sirzechs that they planned on giving him a sibling, he nearly blew a hole through an entire side of the Gremory Manor in excitement.

Even without the strength that Sirzechs possessed, he did possess a unique gift amongst the devils: the Power of Destruction. Granted to him by his mother's blood from the Bael clan, that ability alone allowed the Crimson Satan to take any matter, living or not, and completely disintegrate it to the point that not even dust remained. If Ophis's child were to have that power along with her own, then few would be able to match them once her child became skilled.

Of course, there was no guarantee that her child would get the Power of Destruction when it was only a quarter of the Bael clan's blood against her own. Either way, Sirzechs, by her estimation, was the prime candidate for fathering her child. And there was one last thing that made him the perfect candidate to seduce: Sirzechs Lucifer had a wife.

If it weren't already for the fact that the man completely loved his family, the fact that Sirzechs was married was the icing on the cake for choosing him. In order to get in bed with the Maou, all she needed to do was shapeshift to look like his wife, Grayfia Lucifuge, have sex with him, and it was done. It would need to be done at a time when Grayfia was not home, but it could be done regardless. Even better, she had no fear of acting out of character since Grayfia barely showed any more emotion than Ophis herself.

It was decided, then. In order to defeat Great Red, Ophis would disguise herself as Grayfia Lucifuge and have sex with Sirzechs Gremory in order to have a child. It was genius, if she were vain enough to say so.

Now, all she had to do was keep a spying eye on both Sirzechs and Grayfia to determine the best time to initiate her plan, and then get into the Maou's bed. And once that was done, she'd wait until she was ready to give birth, do so, and raise the child until it was ready to begin helping her with her plan to fight Great Red. She had been trying to get rid of the Apocalypse Dragon for centuries; she was willing to wait longer.

Though, raising the child did mean that she'd have to complete such tasks as feeding him or her, making sure that they were healthy, training them to become a powerful fighter, teaching them everything academic or not that they needed to grow up to be mature and intelligent…

Ophis blinked, and finally spoke aloud. "This… is going to be harder than I thought," she said.

* * *

 **Several weeks later**

Ophis hummed as she stood in the air far above the Gremory Manor. After several weeks of observation, she had finally found a time when it would be best to execute her plan. In two days, the Lord and Lady of the Gremory House were going to be traveling from their estate to the lands belong to the Phenex house in order to work on the details of a marriage contract between the recently-born third son of Lord Phenex and the daughter that Lady Gremory was expecting to have.

When that happened, Sirzechs had assigned Grayfia to go along with his parents. Just because both the Lord and Lady were High-Class Devils and of greater prominence in society, that did not mean that there was no chance of either bandits attacking or tensions between the two Houses dissolving into something violent. Having the "Strongest Queen" with them would prevent either.

That, of course, meant that there would be at two weeks in which Sirzechs would be by himself at the Gremory Manor. Well, alones besides the house servants and what members of Sirzechs's own peerage were present.

Fourteen entire nights in which Ophis could disguise herself as Grayfia and enter the household, where she could seduce Sirzechs into sleeping with her and giving her the seed she needed to have a child. Of course, she would have to come up with an excuse as to why "Grayfia" was back earlier than planned, but that was a simple matter.

Getting into bed with Sirzechs was also simple, considering that Grayfia was his wife. The hard part would come in actually acting as if she enjoyed the actual intercourse needed. Despite her best efforts, it would appear that, whenever the married devils were copulating with one another, an array of spells and seals went up to ensure privacy between the two. Ophis could have broken through the array with ease, but that would have alerted Sirzechs and Grayfia and ruined her entire plan.

So, in addition to having never actually been sexually active with anyone before—she had never possessed any interest or need for such a thing—but she also had no idea whatsoever as to how Grayfia acted in bed. Was she still quiet and reserved, or was a switch flipped and the silverette became loud and expressive? Were the certain fetishes she had that they acted out, and what was she required to do if Sirzechs felt the desire to do so? What subtle parts of her personality would Ophis need to copy in order to fool the Crimson Satan?

That was the biggest obstacle to getting Sirzechs to have sex with her, and if she did not pull this off then her carefully thought-out plan would crumble like a house made of so many cards.

Well, she had two days to figure out. After that, the show would begin.

* * *

 **Fifteen days later**

Under the cover of darkness, Ophis knocked on the front door to the Gremory Manor, fully transformed into 'Grayfia' and waiting with her hands clasped in front of her as she waited. Her facial features were perfectly schooled to match that of the silver-haired Queen's, completely blank and befitting that of the head maid of the house.

The door was quickly open by one of the lower maids, who squeaked in surprise at the sight of her. "G-Grayfia-sama! We weren't expecting you until tomorrow!" she exclaimed, hastily curtsying and bowing her head.

'Grayfia' nodded and inclined her head as well, before both of them stood straight. "Yes, I was bid by Zeoticus-sama and Venelana-sama to travel ahead of them and ensure that the manor was prepared for their return. Could you be so kind as to inform my husband of my early arrival while I inspect the household?" she asked.

The main quickly nodded and said "I-I'll inform Sirzechs-sama right away" before running off, still flustered by the unexpected return of her 'boss'. 'Grayfia' watched her go and waited until she had run around a corner before walking through the doorway, closing it behind her and continuing on. The halls of the Gremory Manor were just as vast as they appeared to be from the outside, with various portraits of exquisite paintins or past memory of the Gremory Clan adorning the walls.

The carpet was a red as vibrant as the family's signature hair, while the wall paper was maroon and adorned by flower vases and a mixture of candle lamps and electric lights. And if she were to move further towards the center of the mansion, 'Grayfia' was sure that she'd find their luxurious garden as well. Truly, the entire mansion screamed to the wealth of the Gremory Clan.

She was interrupted from her thought process by hearing a male voice bellow "Ah, Grayfia!" and turned around to see an absolute _giant_ of a man walk towards her.

The man was nearly seven feet tall and possessed brown hair that fell down the sides of his head before it was pulled back into a ponytail that reached his shoulder blades, and a goatee of the same color. His eyes were a gray-green and he wore vest made of chain-mail over a black shirt and a black pants with a black belt over the vested with rounded rivets. The most noticeable feature, however, was the set of muscles on him that could take any professional bodybuilder and made them look positively flabby.

From the classical Anglo-Saxon garb and the muscles, 'Grayfia' deduced that this was Beowulf, the descendant of the original hero Beowulf and Sirzechs's Pawn. Incidentally, he was also among the Top 5 Most Powerful Pawns in the Underworld, and could certainly cause a ruckus if he figured out who she was.

Luckily, the giant Pawn didn't figure it out right away, and smiled at her before giving a quick bow. "I'll admit that I was surprised to hear that you were back early, but it's good to see you also the same. Did the Phenex Clan give you or the Lord and Lady any trouble?" he asked, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms.

'Grayfia' shook her head, saying "No, both the Lord and Lady of Phenex Horse were polite and cordial, as well as smart enough to keep their children from interfering with the negotiations. The marriage contract has been made official, so our business with the Phenex is done for the time being."

Beowulf nodded, not having any reason to not believe her. As it was, he smirked and said "Well, I do hope you're ready for when Sirzechs-sama finds out that you've made it back. Ever since you left, he's been moaning and groaning almost without stop about how much he misses his-"

"GRAY-CHAAAN!"

Beowulf laughed and 'Grayfia's' eyebrow twitched as she heard Sirzechs's voice. Less than a second later, the Satan himself rounded the corner of them hallway and launched himself at her, catching his 'wife' in a hug and spinning her around. "Oh, Gray-chan, it's so great to see you! These past few days have been _torture_ without seeing your beautiful face! You know, I'm really starting to think that you enjoy making me suffer by going with my parents on trips like this just so you can see me pamper you when you get back and-"

'Grayfia' stopped Sirzechs mid-rant by pinching his cheek and adding a short burst of magic to make sure that it hurt even her 'husband'. "I believe that is enough, Sirzechs-sama," she stated, moving back and out of Sirzechs's arms.

Sirzechs's pouted and rubbed his cheek, trying and failing to get rid of the bright red mark that was now there. "So mean, Gray-chan…" he muttered, only then hearing Beowulf booming laughter as he watched the interaction between his King and Queen. Sirzechs quickly stood straight and dusted himself off at the realization that he had an audience, and said " _Anyway_ , I have some paperwork to finish before I turn in for the night. Once you've finished everything that you need to, I'd be happy if you joined me."

Then he gave her another quick and, before he could be pinched again, walked off. Beowulf gave one more chuckle before excusing himself, saying that he was going to see if Enku, his fellow Pawn, was around for him to challenge to a spar.

That left 'Grayfia' alone, who looked around to make sure the coast was clear before raising her arm. A spectral snake lithered out from within her sleeve and landed on the ground, where it began bulging and growing larger. Once it was the same size as 'Grayfia', it began to gain color and solidify, resolving into a copy of Grayfia.

'Grayfia' looked at the copy and gestured to the halls towards the kitchens. "Ensure that all of the tasks that Grayfia would normally conduct are completed. I will go on ahead," she ordered.

The clone nodded and walked off, while 'Grayfia' walked towards where the bedroom for Sirzechs and his wife as located. Servants bade her welcome or bowed their heads as she went past. Eventually, she reached a set of double doors and walked through, seeing an office space that no doubt belonged to Sirzechs. It was a large, Victorian style desk made of dark wood with a put-out candle and a stack of papers in the 'out' bin.

'Grayfia' also took note of several pictures in frames around the desk. Upon looking, she saw that one of them was of Lord and Lady Gremory on their wedding day, the wedding days between Sirzechs and Grayfia, and one photo showing all four members of the family while Venelana's stomach showed a noticeable bulge, signifying that a new member of the family was soon to join the portrait.

Looking at another set of double doors, 'Grayfia' took a deep breath to prepare herself for the hardest part of her entire mission and began to disrobe. Once the French maid outfit was discarded and she was standing only in a sheet of sheer silver lingerie (that she had actually managed to sneak in and steal from Grayfia's wardrobe earlier in the week", she pushed open the doors and walked through.

Sirzechs had been looking forward to her arrival, as he was sitting up in bed clad only a pair of black boxers. He smiled at seeing his 'wife' in the set of bra and panties that he had bought her on her birthday—not that Ophis knew that. "You know, you really do look beautiful in that. It matches your hair," he said. 'Grayfia' put on a small smile at that and climbed onto bed, making sure that her chest bounced as she did to distract Sirzechs.

As predicted, his eyes were drawn to bouncing breasts, giving 'Grayfia' the time to use her magic conjure up a blindfold. "Sirzechs," she said, drawing his attention back to her face. Holding up the blindfold, she said "I had heard that being blindfolded while having sex increases the sensation you feel exponentially. I was wondering if you were willing to try it," she said.

While raising an eyebrow at the unexpected surprise, Sirzechs merely smiled amusedly. "Well, I can't say that the idea doesn't intrigue me. Okay, I'll give it a shot," he said. He took the blindfold and wrapped it over his eyes, making sure to knot it tightly. 'Grayfia' allowed herself a larger smile. Well, this would ensure that any facial expressions that she made that were out of character wouldn't be spotted. But before she could finalize the process to ensure she wouldn't have any trouble, she'd have to get Sirzechs to be even further… agreeable.

 **WARNING: Lemon begins here! Underage readers, skip to the next bold.**

And so, in order to please him, she unhooked the bra holding her considerable assets back and grabbed Sirzechs's hands. Bringing them up to her chest, she let him squeeze them and he blinked behind the blindfold. "Wow, you were right, Now that I can't see, you're breasts feel even softer than usual. This is incredible," he said, gently kneading each one while occasionally flicking her nipples.

'Grayfia' could feel her transformed body begin to respond to the administrations, several centuries of being in bed having given Sirzechs a _lot_ of experience in how to please a woman. Even though her expression did not change, 'Grayfia' gained a small dusting of pink on her cheeks from the pleasant sensation and move to straddle Sirzechs, giving her greater ease to further massage her chest.

She let him continue for a few more minutes before moving back, causing Sirzechs to frown. "Gray-chan? Where are you going?" he asked.

'Grayfia' chuckled and trailed her hands down her body, letting him know that she was still close by. "I thought it might be best to 'prepare' you before we got to the main course, my beloved," she said lovingly, while hooking her finger into the band of his boxers.

Sirzechs grinned and laid back, saying "Well, far be it from me to turn down such an offer from my loving wife."

'Grayfia' chose not to respond and simply removed his boxers, letting his already hardened member spring free. It appeared to be about six inches in length, which was above-average in length (upon preparing for this, Ophis had actually read an article stating that 5.2 inches was the average) and throbbing with desire. She wrapped her hand around her and Sirzechs hissed as the heat of his dick came into contact with the cool texture of her hand.

However, before things could begin, he suddenly sat up and called "Hold on a sec!" 'Grayfia' quickly looked up, fearing that she may have been caught, but Sirzechs simply clasped his hands together and released a pulse of magic. A menagerie of seals and written spells appeared along the floor, walls and ceiling before fading away, and Sirzechs leaned back. "There. Now we can enjoy ourselves in private."

'Grayfia' nodded and got to work. He could feel her begin to move her hand up and down, and while the feeling of getting a hand-job from his beautiful wife was incredible, he couldn't help but feel like something was… off… about her technique. What, exactly, he couldn't put his finger on, especially since it was starting to get a little hard to think from having his dick stroked, but it felt almost like the hand-job was more _inexperienced_ than the ones he had received from Grayfia in the past.

As it was, it was still good enough that his pleasure overrode his confusion, and Sirzechs moaned when 'Grayfia' rubbed her thumb over the head. "Ah, Gray, that feels great," he said.

'Grayfia' hummed but said nothing, only quickening her pace while using her other hand to gently cup Sirzechs's nut-sack and roll them in her hand to increase his pleasure and hasten an orgasm.

Sirzechs moaned louder at that and began breathing heavily, a light sheen of sweat appearing on his forehead. 'Grayfia' also began channeling a light current of energy to her hands. The magic didn't serve any function other than to warm of her hands to also cause them to vibrate slightly, both of which compounded the pleasure she was delivering.

Under the combined assault of all these techniques, it wasn't long Sirzechs began leaking pre-cum and throbbing even harder, showing that his orgasm wasn't far behind. Seeing that, 'Grayfia leaned forward and extended her tongue, lightly licking the tip of her 'husband's' cock before sealing her lips around the head and humming.

"Oh, shit! Grayfia, you keep that up and I'll be undone in no time!" Sirzechs, bucking his hips slightly on instinct from the pleasure.

' _That's the idea, Sirzechs Gremory_ ,' 'Grayfia' thought, before taking him in even further. It wasn't only when he reached the back of her throat that she was forced to stop, unable to suppress her gag reflex. That, she noticed, caused Sirzechs to frown, and 'Grayfia' mentally grimaced. Apparently, being able to deep-throat Sirzechs was a skill that the real Grayfia did, in fact, possess. Just great.

Thankfully, she had managed to have gotten Sirzechs so worked even before putting him in her mouth that he was about to blow his load. For some reason, 'Grayfia' felt a sense of pride in that accomplishment, and also began swirling her tongue around what she could fit in her mouth.

After another minute of this treatment, Sirzechs groaned and propped himself on his elbows to look at her. "Gray-chan, I'm about to cum!" he called. 'Grayfia's' response was hummed even louder and channel a current of energy through her mouth muscles and to his dick, causing a sudden spike in pleasure that sent Sirzechs over the edge.

"Fuck!" he swore, and blew his load in his 'wife's' mouth while also bucking his hips and pushing his dick down her throat slightly. 'Grayfia' gagged slightly before being forced to swallow both his cock and his load lest she have her airways blocked. After several seconds, the steam of semen into her throat subsided and Grayfia pulled back. A strand of saliva hung between her lips and his dick before she swallowed the last of the load.

It tasted… salty. Not bad, necessarily, but salty. Interesting.

Refocusing on Sirzechs, she could see him leaning his head back and sighing in bliss as he came back down from the height of his orgasm, which the lack of sight only made greater. Really, this was a fantastic idea that his 'wife' came up with.

Knowing that now was the time to initiate the final stage of her plan, 'Grayfia' conjured a pair of earmuffs and said "Sirzechs-kun."

The now-highly relaxed Satan smiled up at her. "Yes, my love?" he responded.

Making sure that her voice was understandable, she said "While I was looking into how losing one's sight can increase sensitivity, I also read that being deprived of hearing can increase the pleasure someone feels even further. Would you be willing to try that?"

To her surprise, however, Sirzechs pouted. "What? But you know that I love hearing you moan when we really get into, Gray-chan," he stated, not as pleased about this suggestion as the first one.

But 'Grayfia' managed to quickly think of a counter to this, and said "But this is something that I want to try, Zechsy-kun. After what I just did, won't you trust me on this?" She made sure that the pout she put on her could even be heard in her tone. The combination of that, the affectionate nickname that Grayfia only used on him less than a few times as well as the lethargy from his last orgasm were what convinced him to give in.

"Well… alright, Gray-chan. I'll decide to trust you on this," he said. Then he cracked a smirk. "Just don't get _too_ kinky and tie me to the bed while I'm blind and deaf," he added.

'Grayfia' chuckled and put the earmuffs in Sirzechs's hands. He put them and made sure that they were smug. Snapping his fingers a few times next to either side of his head to ensure that he couldn't hear, he gave her a thumbs-up once he was sure and laid back. 'Grayfia' smirked victoriously at that. ' _Now, I've got you right where I want you_ ,' she thought, before stripping herself of her panties and climbing onto Sirzechs's lap.

* * *

 **Notice: Lemon is over. Underage readers, carry on.**

 **At that same moment…**

Beowulf huffed as he walked through the halls, exhausted and yet please at the same time. He had managed to find Enku and the two of them had duked it out some distance away from the manor. It was a match between Enku's speed and agility against Beowulf's raw strength and endurance. It was a good match, even though he felt slightly depressed about his teammates still treating him a lackey.

It was serious blew to his self-esteem, and it was only the fact that he had managed to put Enku in a headlock and force him to submit that kept the end of his day bright.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock from the front door. Grunting curiously and seeing that there was no maid or other servant around to get it, he walked forward pulled open the door himself.

Standing on the other side of the door was none other than Grayfia, who, while raising an eyebrow at Beowulf being the one to answer the door, chose not to question and merely bowed her head. "Beowulf-san, it is a pleasure to see you once more," she said cordially.

Beowulf blinked in surprise. Completely forgetting his usual manners, he bluntly asked "Um… Grayfia? What are you doing?"

Interpreting the question as one about why she had arrived early, Grayfia said "I was sent ahead by the Lord and Lady Gremory to ensure that the manor was prepared for their return tomorrow. I apologize for having made it back at such a late hour, but I thought it better than simply waiting until morning."

Tilting his head to the side, Beowulf said "Err, that's not quite what I meant, Grayfia-san. What I'm asking is why you're acting like you just got here."

Now Grayfia was confused as well. She vocalized that, saying "What are you talking about, Beowulf-san? I'm acting like I just arrived because I _have_ only just arrived."

Beowulf's next words, however, chilled her to bone even with all her power over ice. "But that's impossible. I just saw you talking with Sirzechs inside the manner a little while ago!"

Grayfia's eyes widened in shock before narrowing. "Then it would appear that we have an intruder in the manor," she declared. Beowulf's eyes widened in both shock and realization. However, now that he knew what had happened, he was able to process things much more quickly, and his expression became determined.

"I'll raise the alarm and inform the other members of the house. Grayfia-san, you go on ahead. If this imposter was strong enough to fool even Sirzechs and the rest of us, then he'll need your help to beat them," he said, before rushing off to do as he just said.

Grayfia nodded and ran through the front door, not even closing it behind her as she raced for her and her husband's bedroom. Concern for his wellbeing warred with anger that he could be duped into thinking that someone else was her as she got closer, making her wonder what she would do to her husband once the imposter was taken care of.

After several moments, she reached the door to Sirzech's office and pushed through, sensing that the privacy spells that they had set up were active. That could only mean that her husband was indeed in the bedroom and was having sex with the manor's intruder.

Not willing to wait and take a subtler approach, Grayfia charged up her energies until a silver glow surrounded her, and she flung both hands at the doors. A wave of sub-zero wind and solid mini-glaciers blasted the doors and the privacy spells struggled to hold up. After a few seconds, they feel and the door swung open.

Just in time for her to hear her husband called "Gray-chan! I'm cumming!"

Grayfia stared at the scene before her. Her husband was lying on his back with a blindfold on and earmuffs blocking his hearing, while a woman that looked _exactly_ like her was seated in his lap and being came inside without a condom or, if she had to guess, any kind of contraceptive either.

The sound of the doors opening caused 'Grayfia' to whip her head, and her eyes widened in shock at seeing the real Grayfia right there. Before the real one could react, the fake Grayfia used a blast of energy to launch herself towards the ceiling, where the air tore itself apart and created a gaping hole that led to who-knows-where.

"Oh, no you don't!" Grayfia yelled, and jumped into the air after the imposter. Only for her to be tackled from behind and knocked down by a _third_ Grayfia, one that morphed into a spectral snake immediately after and flew up to the imposter. She caught it and flew through the portal with a victorious smirk on her face, closing the hole in reality the moment she passed through.

Grayfia stared for a moment in shock, not processing what had just happened for two entire seconds. Then it went through. Not only had some imposter managed to seduce her husband into _their_ own bed, but they had escaped and gotten away with it too.

"What the heck is going on?" Sirzechs asked, having sensed something was wrong the moment the fake Grayfia launched herself off of him and had removed both the earmuffs and blindfold to see what was wrong. Now, instead of sitting on his lap, naked, his wife was getting up from being on the floor and was back in her full Franch maid outfit. "Erm… Gray-chan? What exactly is happening?" he questioned.

At the sound of her husband's voice, Grayfia faced him and her anger at him overcame her desire for his safety. It also let her decide what to do with and provided an outlet at her anger for the imposter having gotten away.

Sirzechs watched in growing apprehension as the upper half of Grayfia's face became shadowed and her eyes glowed a scary ice-blue. The air temperature of the room plummeted until Sirzechs could see his breath and felt goosebumps all over his naked body. Frost also began to spread across the carpet from where she was standing. Something that only happened when she was well and truly pissed off.

"Sirzechs…" she growled.

Then all he knew was cold and pain.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

* * *

 **One week later…**

Sitting back in her chair at the café in Venice, Ophis grinned and sipped on a cup of tea. The plan had gone off perfectly. Now she had the seed of the strongest devil alive within her, and within nine months that seed would cause her to give birth to possibly the strongest being alive since herself and Great Red. The perfect person to help her complete her dreams.

To make to even better, she knew that none of the Underworld's forces were going to come after her. The higher-ups in the devil society would no doubt have a shit-fit if the fact that an unknown intruder was able to infiltrate the heart of Gremory territory was made available to the public. So, the entire incident was being covered-up and anyone who knew anything was sworn to silence.

Best of all, Sirzechs, Grayfia or any of Sirzechs's peerage were unable to come after her, due to Grayfia being too angered to watch such an order and Sirzechs being unable to issue any orders at all for a while. Why was that?

Apparently, the Crimson Satan was bedridden for the foreseeable future with a sudden, mysterious and very intense case of frostbite.

On his testicles.

Anyway, after having escaped from the Underworld, she had changed from the form of Grayfia to an older version of her Lolita form. Besides being taller and with larger breasts and hips than before, her facial features were more mature than before and her hair reached the back of her knees instead of her hips.

She had also switched out her Gothic dress for sleeveless black Victorian dress with frills on the front of the gown, black leather corset and black gloves that covered her arms all the way up to her elbows. The idea for the entire transformation had been for her body to be perfect for the birthing and nursing of a child would now occur within nine months, and she felt as if she succeeded.

Such was her satisfaction over what she had done that Ophis even let out a small laugh. Things had gone perfectly, and now she was ready to take the first step needed to raising the child who would become not _just_ her child, but most powerful champion, her immortal warrior and maybe even be next Dragon God.

Yes, she would raise this child to be her progeny, her Infinite Legacy.

* * *

 **Well, there you have it. I hope you all enjoyed both this first chapter the lemon in it, which was actually the first lemon I ever wrote. Let me know (without flames, please!) how I did on that front, even with the situation being as unusual as it was.**

 **However, let it be said that this story is NOT part of the set of active stories I have on rotation. What does this mean? It emans that this fic does not have a time after any other story when it will be updated, and instead only when my muse strikes me with inspiration for it.**

 **Now that that's settled, let it be said that this fic, in true** _ **DxD**_ **fashion, will have a harem. Two harmes, to be exact. I'll be having one for Ophis's son—Deiru Ouroboros—and one for Issei. Both harems will start out with a maximum of five girls, but that may increase in the future depending on if I believe I can handle it and how the plot progresses. So if there are any girls you want to see with either Issei or Deiru, let me know in the review box and I will take your opinions into account!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	2. Chapter 2: Growing Up

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Author's Note: …Yeah, I'm back. I'm f$#%ing back. You want to know why I was gone? My jobs sucks. Seriously. I work in call-center for a cable company, and everyday I'm reminded of the fact that both the center and the company itself f$#%ing suck. Honestly, if I knew another place that would pay me as well and would take me as easily as this one did, I would jump ship in a heartbeat. But I can't, so I've got to live with it.**

 **And I lost my flash drives again, so I had to find them before finishing this chapter. (Really need to update my back-ups more frequently.) My own suffering notwithstanding, I have been able to pull myself in front of my computer and type out this chapter, which I hope you all enjoy, along with the replies to reviews!**

 **Shincore and Archdragon190: Technically, yes, Ophis could have had a child without a partner. But to do so would essentially cause Ophis to recreate another version of herself, who would face the same exact issues in regards to beating Great Red. Trying the same thing, essentially, and expecting different results. So, Ophis had a child with someone else so that her child would not be a copy of her, and thus stand, if not a better chance, than at least a different chance than she did.**

 **King0fP0wers: Glad that you liked the ending; I was trying to mix in some humor. And while I have never seen Fate/Extra, I'll have to take a look into it.**

 **RedBurningDragon: Your votes have been tallied. And yes, this does make Rias his aunt.**

 **War historian: Don't worry, Sirzechs is not dead. But he will not be forgetting that incident anytime soon.**

 **Deathrod12: Thank you.**

 **Greyjedi449t: You are right; I did notice that error, and have corrected it. And here is the next chapter.**

 **Sinnerlust: Raynare, huh? That would certainly shake things up. I'll take your vote into account.**

 **Titania Princess and gundam 09: Ask and ye shall receive.**

 **Slasher3321: That would be an interesting dynamic, to be sure. If it gets enough vote, it may very well be.**

 **Kirin and Legacy: Yeah, I realize that, for my first lemon, it was decidedly weird. But at least Ophis won't need to do it again.**

 **Guest #1, Leo Saruca, BANKAIZEN and stigma13: Your votes have been tallied.**

 **God of war: Well, you're about to find out.**

 **FreindlyNeighborhoodReader: The name does give an indicator, but that would only be confirmed if Deiru used any of his mother abilities.**

 **Psykotic101: To be honest, I do agree that Koneko's fall for Issei was a little sudden, and I have added your vote for her. Enjoy.**

 **ARSLOTHES: I do plan for this chapter to be dedicated to the childhood, but aftes this canon storyline will begin.**

 **And withdranwnmadness000: Glad that you like the originality of my story. Yes, Deiru will be somewhat like his mother in personality and be a 3** **rd** **year student. And your votes have been tallied.**

 **And now that all of that is oout of the way, let the second chapter begin!**

* * *

Chapter 2: Growing Up

 **Unknown Location, 13 years later (6 years before the start of canon)…**

Ophis stood impassively in the middle of a barren field, arms crossed over her chest and in her adult form. She was also surrounded by a dome of translucent purple light, a barrier that she had generated that was designed to withstand every kind of blast short of hydrogen bomb. Across from her stood her child, a boy she had chosen to name Deiru.

At the age of twelve, her son Deiru had inherited the same black hair color as her, and it fell down to his shoulders in straight locks that framed his face with only the slightest bit of dishevelment from his father. His eyes, to her surprise, were heterochromic, with his right eye being the same gray as hers while his left was the same blue-green as Sirzechs. His facial features were also angular like Sirzechs, but he had her nose and pointed ears. For attire, Ophis had given her son a set of black slacks with a white button-up shirt, white socks and black geta sandals.

Deiru was panting with a light sheen of sweat on his brow, and fought to stand straight. His mother had warped the two of them to this wasteland so that she could train him in using his magical abilities. Being twelve now, Deiru was old enough to start practicing his magic in full. This was starting with the most basic uses of devil magic- gathering enough energy to launch it at the opponent and create an explosion.

Just about every use of devil magic under the sun made use of gathering and releasing energy, so this was a very practical technique to learn. The trick for Ophis's training came in this: Deiru was required to find some way to use his energy to break Ophis's barrier. The very idea of being able to break the Dragon Goddess's barrier was daunting enough, but to find a way to do it without any sort of complex spell or weapon made this challenge virtually impossible.

That didn't mean that Ophis was going to stop telling her son to keep trying.

"Try again," she stated simply. Deiru grunted and extended his right hand. A symbol appeared before him in the shape of two concentric golden circles with an Ouroboros snake between them and a golden lotus flower in the center. The circle flashed before vanishing and a blast of golden energy as large as a small table was launched through the air. It struck Ophis's barrier and detonated in blast that created a massive _boom_ along with a cloud of dust.

The impact itself also created several small cracks on the ground, and Deiru watched to see if it had any effect. After several seconds the dust cloud faded, showing that his mother's barrier was unaffected in the least. "Again," Ophis said, not even fazed. Deiru frowned and summoned his magic circle before firing another shot. It flew towards the barrier, creating another blast… and still had no effect.

"Again."

Another shot. _Bam._

"Again."

One more. _Bam._

"Again."

 _Bam._

"Again!"

 _Bam. Bam. Bam._

Deiru placed his hands on his knees, panting even harder now. Over half a dozen blasts and he hadn't managed to break Ophis's barrier. Nay, he wasn't he able to make a crack in it. "How in creation… can this be done?" he muttered to himself.

Just then, however, they both heard a voice called "Come on, Deiru! You can do it, nya!" Both mother and son paused to give flat looks to the only witness to this event. The one that had spoken was a young woman with black hair and a voluptuous body even at her young age, along with hazel eyes, black cat ears and two black cat tails. This girl was, if it hadn't been guessed by now, the stray devil and Nekoshou named Kuroka.

Starting in just the past few years, Ophis had begun gathering beings besides Deiru who could be of assistance in her plan to defeat Great Red. These beings were allowed to join regardless of race, species, past actions or anything else so long as they agreed to be a part of the group. Once word had gotten around amongst the shadows that Ophis was gathering strong beings together, a surprising number of groups and individuals were willing to add their names in.

Groups such as the Old Satan Faction, magicians that had been expelled by the Magician's Council and beings who possessed Sacred Gears or were descendants of notable figures in history. These were just a few of the groups to join up when Ophis began gathering allies. Whether they were tired of the way that the three factions were running as of now or because they had nowhere else to go.

An amalgamation of various being, all held together by a single goal. Ophis had creatively decided to name this brigade of fighters the Khaos Brigade.

' _Of course, many of them could just be joining because they want to use Mother's power for themselves_ ,' Deiru thought bitterly. Maybe he was just being arrogant, but the thought of working with such people left a bad taste in his mouth. That wasn't to say that he didn't enjoy being around Kuroka. Far from it, actually. After she had joined the Khaos Brigade, she was instantly interested in Deiru, if for no other reason than that he had half of the genetics of the strongest dragon in existence, which in turn made him prime genetic material to help her begin repopulating the Nekoshou race when he was older.

To that end, Kuroka had been spending a great amount of her time watching over Deiru and actually helping in his training, at least when it came to hand-to-hand combat. Ophis raised no objections over this, seeing as how it was not only beneficial to Deiru, but her entire decision to give birth to Deiru in the first place was based on genetics. So, it made sense to her to let Kuroka be around her son if her own goal was similar.

Back in the present, Kuroka paused slightly at the twin blank stares she received. After a moment, however, Deiru smiled slightly. "Thank you, Kuroka. I appreciate the help," he said. The twin-tailed Youkai smiled brightly in response to that, and crossed her arms, which had the unintended effect of pushing her breasts up slightly.

However, before she could respond with some sort of sexually teasing comment—which was _exactly_ what was about to happen—Ophis said "I… think you're missing the point of this exercise, Deiru." When Deiru refocused on her, she continued "While you are strong and, in time, will become even stronger, at this point in time… there exists no way for to be able to simply blast through my barrier. If you want to pass this exercise, then you need to find another way to break it."

Deiru frowned in confusion. "Another way? Mother, how am I going to do that?" he asked. If there was no way for him to gather and release enough energy to break the barrier, then why was he even…?

"…If it told you that, it would defeat the point of this exercise. Now, start over, and try again," Ophis said sternly. Deiru frowned further, before reluctantly nodding. He held out his hand, but paused to consider the barrier before him. His mother was right in that he wasn't strong enough to blast through it, but if that was the case, then how was he going to be able to pierce through-

Deiru froze. Of course, it was so simple it was obvious. Right now, he was just chucking blasts at the barrier like rocks against a wall or some other kind of blunt instrument. But if he were to focus and gather his energy into a single point, make it narrow and sharp enough to act like the tip of a knife... then instead of _breaking_ it, he could _cut_ right through the thing.

Smirking, Deiru conjured his magic circle again and allowed an orb of energy to build up. But rather than release it, he held the orb back and concentrated. Slowly, very slowly, the orb began to shift, one side of it elongating until half of the sphere was in the shape of a cone. However, before he could focus it any further, the circle faltered the orb shot off, exploding against Ophis's barrier and doing nothing.

Although her face remained impassive, Ophis matched her son's smile on the inside. So, he was starting to get it.

Deiru tried again, placing on his focus on holding back the blast long enough for him to shape it. This time, it managed to fully form into a cone before Deiru faltered. "Ah!" he grunted in dismay as it flew off. Although the explosion was lesser that time, there was still no incision to be found in the barrier.

' _It needs to be narrower_ ,' he thought, before trying once more. The cone narrowed to about half its previous width, then half of that on the next try. "Come on…" he muttered, his exhaustion and anger at his failure starting to grow. "Come on," he said. Closer, but no dice. "Come on!" he shouted. The cone was about as wide of a regular spear, but still couldn't pierce through. "Come on!"

Knowing one more push was needed to push her son to anger and give it all he had, Ophis said "Son… you appear to be tired. Are you so weak that we need to take a break already?"

That did it. Deiru's pride as a devil and especially as a dragon was stung at that. Placing both hands out, he yelled "Wrong guess, Mother! That barrier's coming down if I have cut through it with my own hands! Now… COME ON!" he roared, before firing a spear of energy so thin and sharp that it was almost undetectable. But Ophis saw it, and also witness as it tore a hole in her barrier equal to the width of a needle, flying through that gap and heading straight for her…

The spear shattered harmlessly against a second, more durable barrier that Ophis instantly conjured a centimeter around her person. Even so, the first barrier dropped away, showing that her son had succeeded. After a moment, the second barrier faded away as well.

For a moment, silence hung around the wasteland as both Deiru and Kuroka processed the fact that he had just succeeded. However, after a beat had passed, Kuroka squealed and leaped forward, picking up Deiru in a hug and unintentionally (?) pushing his face into her cleavage. "You did it, Deiru! That was completely awesome, nya!" she yelled.

Deiru said nothing, silently considering his exact location between Kuroka's breasts and what he should do about it. It was not as if Kuroka had _asked_ him to have his face there, and both she and his mother had told him that touching a woman in places she did not permit would label him as a pervert. So, the smart thing would likely be to move away.

However, it was Kuroka herself who had initiated the hug, and, he mentally admitted, it _was_ a rather comfortable spot despite it being a bit difficult to breathe…

Ophis allowed her right eyebrow to twitch once before she said "I… think that's enough, Kuroka." Instantly, the twin-tailed cat released Deiru and jumped away, doing her best to look embarrassed. It didn't work.

Disregarding that, Ophis continued "Let this be one of your foremost lessons as you grow, Deiru. Your opponent can be far above you in terms of strength, and your odds of winning nonexistent. But… everyone, no matter who they are, possesses at least one chink in their armor. Your job is to find that chink, expose it wide, and strike. Do you understand?"

Deiru nodded, bowing his head. "Yes, I understand, Mother," he replied reservedly. Ophis nodded and waved her arm, casually ripping open a hole in the space-time continuum that consumed all three of them and took them back to the home Ophis had built for herself and her son.

* * *

That home, as it turned out, was a traditional Japanese manor located just a few miles southwest of Tokyo in the more elevated of Japan, and hidden behind one of the strongest barriers Ophis could produce, completely blocking any sight, sound, or even magical energy from escaping the inside and being detected by anyone beyond the estate. The manor itself was a light beige color with red accents, and large enough that it could likely hold a small army if needed.

A good staging point if the Khaos Brigade ever decided to invade Japan.

The air in front of the house distorted before blowing apart as space itself was torn open before depositing Ophis, Deiru and Kuroka on the front lawn and closing back up. The front door had a large golden lotus flower imprinted on, and swung open silently upon Deiru's silent command. The three went inside before spitting up, Ophis going to observe the rest of the world and look for more potential recruits, Deiru going to his room and Kuroka going to do… honestly, Deiru didn't want to know.

Deiru approached his room and slid the door open, and immediately saw the pale-lavender hair of the one who bowed in front of him, having heard his approach and bowed already. "Welcome back from training, Master Deiru. Would you like to have a bath drawn for you before you dine with your mother this evening?" the woman asked, still bowing.

Deiru considered this before nodding. "Yes, I would like that very much. And you may rise before me, Hannah," he said.

The woman nodded before straightening up, showing her face. She was a grown woman, one with a generous figure and light brown skin, complimented by her navy-blue eyes and purple lipstick. Her hair was long enough that it reached her knees, though the bottom half was braided and tied with an indigo ribbon. Her outfit was, as one would guess, that of a maid, with a long-sleeved indigo dress and white apron with white stockings, dark-brown Mary Janes and a plate-shaped cap.

She was Hannah Annafellows, personal maid and Knight in service to Deiru Ouroboros.

As Hannah walked to the adjacent bathroom to begin drawing that bath, Deiru considered how he had come to have the woman as a servant. Originally, Hannah had actually been dead, having left the realm of the living with another devil named Claude and two human boys several centuries ago. Apparently, they had all entered the Void together in the belief that they would remain together even in death.

But fate was cruel, and revealed an unknown fact about devils and the souls they consumed. Should a devil have ever swallowed a soul, as devils often did with contracts at that time, then all the souls they had devoured would be released from within upon the devil's death. The moment Hannah had died, the souls of both Jim and Luka Macken were released and the four were swept apart by the Void.

And so Hannah had drifted through the afterlife, despondent and shattered from the prospect of facing eternity all alone, before Ophis had sensed her misery through the Dimensional Rift and pulled her soul back into the realm of the living, where Deiru gave her the choice of being revived as one of his Evil Pieces (a twelfth birthday gift from his mother) and live as his servant, free of all past attachments and open to live a life beyond her old one.

Knowing that she would never be able to fulfill her original desire to spend eternity with Claude, Jim and Luka, Hannah agreed and was revived into a new life as Deiru's Knight. Since then, the rest was history.

Back in the present, Deiru discarded his clothing and stepped into the bath. Hannah was already there with a sponge on hand, having insisted since day one that she wash Deiru whenever he took bath. It was a fitting job for a servant such as herself, Hannah had said. Deiru found it was less of a headache to just let her.

As Hannah washed his back, she asked "So, how did your training progress today, Master?"

Deiru gave a noncommittal shrug. "About as well as expected. I was able to pierce mother's barrier by focusing my magic, but I'm only just starting to grasp the full level of what I can do. I still have a long way to go," he said, simply stating a fact rather than try to downplay his abilities.

Hannah hummed at that and continued to wash her King's back, and also begun to quietly sing a lullaby in Welsh that she knew. It had the intended effect of causing Deiru to relax further, and she kept herself from chuckling. Her master was really too formal at times, something he got from his mother.

Later, Ophis and Deiru sat across from each other at the mid-sized dining table, waiting as the table was set by Hannah. Dinner was a serving of Japanese sushi and steamed rice large enough to feed four people, and prepared with all the grace of a cook of the highest caliber.

Hannah was, to steal the phrase of another devil she once knew, one hell of a servant.

After the table was set, Hannah actually pulled out one of the chairs and sat down with her master and his mother. Normally it would be considered impudent for a maid such as her to eat at the same table as the master, but Deiru actually _wanted_ her to eat with them instead of separately, like equals. While unusual, she was certainly not about to complain.

Once Hannah sat down, the three of them began eating dinner, and Kuroka joined in a while later. Dinner was a quiet affair except for whenever Kuroka struck a conversation with either Deiru or Hannah, the latter of whom also who got along surprisingly well with the youkai and conversed with her easily.

As he ate, Deiru looked around at his mother and the other members of the house. As unusual as their circumstances might have been, he couldn't help but find himself enjoying this moment. His family was a strange one, after all.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the Underworld…**

Twelve-year old Rias Gremory sat in her room with the lights turned off and her blankets forming a cocoon around her whole body save for her face, eyes glued to her television screen. Beside her were her Queen and Rook, Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou. The three of them were together for Rias's weekly ritual of staying up until the crack of dawn, and during that only time they would be doing only one thing.

Watching anime.

"Oh, come on, Ichigo! Break free of that Kido!" Rias called, though she did her best to keep her voice to a minimum.

Akeno giggled at the scene of Ichigo bound and stuck with his arms behind his back without even needing to use ropes. She should try and learn how to do that. "My, they both certainly interact well. And those drawing of rabbits are cute," she said, gesturing to Rukia as she used bunny drawings to explain about Hollows and Soul Reapers.

"Cat drawings are better," Koneko said monotonously, for once letting her Nekoshou features show as she nibbled on piece of chocolate.

Both other girls couldn't help but laugh at that. They watched as Ichigo broke free, became a Soul Reaper and ended the episode by killing the Hollow. As the end credits began rolling, Rias looked over at Koneko. "So, how have you been adjusting to living here, Koneko-chan?" she asked.

Koneko thought about it for a moment before taking another bite of chocolate, saying "I like it here." It had only been a few months since Rias had saved Koneko from being executed by bringing her into her peerage as her Rook, and the young girl was still adjusting to going from living on the streets to a lavish manor where you could get almost anything you wanted with just a request.

Devil authorities had still been unable to locate where Koneko's sister, Kuroka, had gone off to, but had wasted no time in labeling Kuroka as SS-class criminal. As Kuroka's sister, it was only both Rias's action in recruiting her and her brother Sirzech's authority as a Satan that saved Koneko. To say that life had ben harsh to the young girl was an understatement, but at least things were starting to look up somewhat.

Koneko was pulled out her thoughts by the sound of Ichigo shouting, and looked up to see him staring at Rukia, who was right in the middle of his classroom, in shock. Well, that was interesting. They continued to watch the show episode by episode until just after midnight, when there was a knock on the door and Grayfia walked in.

Taking one look at the three of them together and the television screen, she said "It is time to turn in, Rias-sama. You and your peerage have an important day of training ahead of you."

Rias puffed her cheeks out. "What?! But why? This is my special anime night!" she complained with all the expected petulance of a child deprived of their favorite activity.

But Grayfia was not moved by the rather cute display, and replied "My apologies, Rias-sama. But you need your sleep if you are to perform well tomorrow, and that will not occur if you watch your anime until the sun rises again."

Akeno and Koneko were silent, wondering what Rias was going to do. The redhead herself looked like she was about to argue further… until she saw the flat look on Grayfia's face. One that quite clearly said ' _Give up. You will not win_ '. At that, she slumped slightly and said, "Alright, Grayfia-chan…"

Grayfia nodded, and said "Very good. Your peerage may sleep with you tonight, if you wish. Good night, Rias-sama." With that, Grayfia bowed and walked out of the room, knowing that Rias was not about to disobey and risk the ire of either her or her mother Venelana. Kind and caring that woman may be, but when provoked, her temper was legendary.

After exiting the room, Grayfia turned around and saw Sirzechs standing on the other side of the hall, having heard the entire exchange inside. He chuckled at his cute little Ria-tan's love of anime, and said "Kids. They never get any less cute, do they?"

Rather than get a bland reply like he had been expecting, Grayfia's features scrunched slightly in anger before she nodded and walked briskly away. Sirzechs winced. Even after thirteen years, his wife was still pissed at him for unintentionally cheating on her and very likely getting some other woman pregnant with his child. Granted, she _had_ already tried to literally freeze his balls off, but that had eventually healed, so no dice there.

Dashing to catch up to his Queen and wife, he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Gray-chan, I've said I was sorry over a thousand times since then. I've been counting! How in all the Underworld can I get you to forgive me?" he pleaded desperately.

For a long moment, there was silence, as Sirzechs waited for an answer and Grayfia stood still. Minutes passed until, just as Sirzechs thought he was going to have to try again another day, Grayfia turned and looked him dead in the eye. "You cheated on me with another woman, and likely had a child with her," she said, making him hang his head.

Only for him to shoot it back up with he was suddenly and forcefully pulled closer by his wife, who was holding onto the front of his shirt. Sirzechs looked at Grayfia, and was actually set off ease by the _look_ in his wife's eyes. "Um, Grayfia?" he asked.

Pulling him another inch closer, Grayfia said "You gave that unknown woman a child. If you want to be forgiven, I expect the same gesture."

Sirzechs's eyes went as wide as saucers. Wait, was she really talking about…? His thoughts were interrupted when Grayfia starting walking towards their bedroom, pulling him along with a grip like iron. "W-Wait a minute, Gray-chan! Do you really mean that you want us to-?" he began.

"Yes, I do. And you're not being forgiven until we do," she stated frankly, still pulling him behind her by the front of his shirt. Then she stopped a moment to look back. "Oh, and one more thing, my dearest husband. If you _ever_ , knowingly or not, cheat on me again, I _will_ fully emasculate you, freeze you, and then kill you. Do I make myself clear?" she said, saying all that in her usual tone and consequently scaring the hell out of him.

Sirzechs could only gulp and nod rapidly, while also resisting the urge to cover the front of his pants at the thought of permanent damage to his precious jewels. By that point, they had already reached the bedroom, and Grayfia pushed the doors open before throwing Sirzechs onto the bed and beginning to undress herself. "Good. Now, let's get started," she declared.

* * *

 **London, England, the next day…**

Having changed back to her child form, Ophis watched silently at the scene before her in the middle of a London ally. From the looks of things, an older man was being held up against a wall by three other men, who were all holding knives and holding them with very obvious intent. While the man was of average height, features and everything else, what stood out were the three men assaulting him.

From the looks of things, all three men looked almost exactly the same, suggesting that they were triplets. They all had short plum hair and red eyes, but their hair was arranged differently. The middle one had the fringes of his hair falling to the center, while the one of the left and right had their fringes swept to the left and right respectively.

They all wore the same rather unusual outfit, however. White button-up shirts and black slacks, with brown vests, black dress shoes and gray ribbons tied around their necks.

The man they were holding against the wall spluttered, trying to talk even as the middle one was slowly crushing his windpipe with one hand. "P-please! I'll pay you all back, I promise!" he said.

The one with his hair swept left snorted. "Yeah, right. That's what you said the last time you tried to steal those guns from the three of us."

"And they were expensive antique guns, too," the middle one added.

The third triplet nodded in agreement, saying "Straight from the Victorian era."

The man was about to come up with another plea for mercy when he went stiff in fear. Why? The eyes of all three triplets glowed pink as they pupils narrowed into slits, showing that the three of them were definitely _not_ human. "You… you're monsters! All three of you!" he shouted.

The triplets nodded as one. "Yep, we're totally monsters," the third one said.

"Monsters with a grudge," the first one said.

"A grudge we plan on settling," the middle one finished, still holding the man against the wall with one hand while his raised the knife in his other hand.

Before the man could even scream, the middle triplet moved with inhuman speed, shoving the knife into side of his throat and using such equally inhuman strength that the tip of it actually exited out the other side of the man's neck. The other two moved in, stabbing the man in the heart and between the eyes as well, killing him brutally and instantly.

The entire murder was done with such speed that they were able to pull out the knives and move back before the man's blood even had a chance to get on the clothes, and the corpse fell to the ground like a puppet without strings.

Ophis didn't even bat an eye to the whole scene, not knowing why the man had drawn the ire of these three devil and truly not even caring. As it was, she said "So... you three are as capable as a team as I was told."

The triplets turned to her just as she revealed herself, causing them all to raise their eyebrows at the sight of a young girl. "And who the hell are you?" the third one demanded, raising his knife as if to scare her.

Unafraid, Ophis cast her gaze back to the corpse and, while she still didn't really care that much, she was a little curious. "You three killed this man. Why?" she asked.

The middle triplet scowled. "He stole some guns from us—guns that are very special to us," he answered.

Now getting it, Ophis smiled. "…Oh? You wouldn't be talking about the guns that were once used by Hannah Annafellows, would you?" she asked innocently.

The triplets' eyes widened, before narrowing as they lunged forward at Ophis. Quickly surrounding her in a triangle formation, the first two tossed away their knives and respectively pulled out a ladder and a weed-wacker from… somewhere. The one with the ladder swung it down and held it to where Ophis was caught between two of the rungs, and the third revved up the weed-wacker's engine.

"How do you know about Miss Hannah?!" the one with knife shouted, glaring at her and barely keeping himself from attacking her, much like his brothers.

Ophis retained her smile even with the tension now thick in the air. "It… is simple, really. I know about your connection to Hannah Annafellows because Hannah herself told me about you three. Canterbury…" she said, looking at the triplet with left-swept hair. "Thompson…" she continued, flicking her gaze at the one with the center-falling hair. "And Timber," she finished, looking at the one with right-swept hair.

The now identified Canterbury snarled at her even as he held the ladder still. "Lies. Miss Hannah died centuries ago, along with that asshole Claude and that brat Alois!" he growled at her.

Thompson raised the weed-wacker higher. "That's why we care so much about those guns that guy stole!" he said.

"They're all we've got that's left of her!" Timber declared.

Ophis looked at all of them. "And… what if I were to tell you that I actually brought Hannah Annafellows back to life, and that she now serves underneath my son?" she suggested.

The three of them froze at that, before Timber asked the question they were all thinking. "Why should we believe something like that?"

Ophis lost her smile at that. Without even moving a muscle, she released a small sliver of her power. That small sliver was enough to create a blast of wind that extended outwards in all directions, turn the weapons in the triplets' hands to dust, and sent them all falling onto their backs.

The triplets looked at Ophis in shock as this being, who they knew was not human but still looked like a little girl, effortlessly trumped like they were ants before an omnipotent god. Although they didn't know it, they weren't that far off.

Ophis looked at each of them were eye that were glowing gray, and for the briefest of moments, an image of a truly massive dragon was superimposed over her. Then it faded, and Ophis asked in a voice that seemed to boom and yet was a whisper at the same time. " **…Do you three truly believe that I would need to resort to trickery on three lower beings such as yourselves?** " she asked.

The triplets actually trembled at the power that Ophis was exuding, even as they tried to force their own bodies to stop shaking. She held their gaze for a moment longer before dismissing her power. The glow in her eyes, the swirling wind and the aura of supreme might all vanished, and she asked "Now… are you going to follow me and see for yourselves that Hannah lives? Or will you stay here and continue to wallow in misery?"

Without even waiting for an answer, she swung her arm and ripped open another void in space that would lead back to the manor. As she walked through, the triplets looked at each other. "That chick is scary," Canterbury stated.

"Almost as scary as if we actually made Miss Hannah mad at us," Thompson said.

"I say we follow her," Timber told them.

Without another word, they scrambled to their feet and rushed through the portal before it could close on them.

* * *

 **And that ends this second chapter of Infinite Legacy. Hopefully, with this out of my head and my flash drives recovered, I can finally update the rest of my stories at a more regular pace than what has been. Considering that I start college in a few weeks, however, I am not 100% sure on that one. Either way, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and know that the beginning of the canon and Kuoh Academy will be in the next chapter!**

 **Also, the votes have been tallied, and the first girl for each harem has been decided! The first girl for Deiru's harem has been determined to be…**

 **The Sexy Two-Tails, Kuroka!**

 **And the first girl for Issei's harem will be…**

… **Actually, this one was a tie. A four-way tie, actually. An equal number of votes were made for Issei to be with Rias, Akeno, Asia or Irina. Which means that this tie will be broken next chapter, with both it and the second girl being announced!**

 **Know that I will announce one more girl with each chapter that comes, and while I will** _ **start**_ **the harems with five girls, there is the chance that they will expand depending on how the plot develops and if I feel ready enough to make the attempt to accurately portray more than five different relationships. So keep voting, stay tuned, and look out for more! (And yes, you can vote for the same person again. I will count it.)**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	3. Chapter 3: A New Student

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Well, I'm certainly back earlier than I expected. Perhaps the fact that I am back in school has encouraged me to actually get off my lazy ass and be productive once more.*Adopts a thinking pose* This merits investigation. Either way, this next chapter is here, and I hope you all enjoy both it and the review replies!**

 **DogOfTheApocolypse: Glad that you like Kuroka as well; something about neko-girls just gets me. Maybe because I have a cat of my own… Maybe. Either way, thank you.**

 **The Ultimate Dragon Lord, Deathrod12, RogeRalde, Cf96 and Guest: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **DeadMenPlaying, atchoum35, Renzo337, UltimateKING, gundam 09, JOlBoltz, AlchemistPhill, Grim Repaer, Loup Garou10, FallenANGEL, Rafael66, NicoWhite, Brune Fly, XSamael, ALvin20 and AngelicIncubus: Your votes have been tallied.**

 **Johnsontaiwo57: I sent my reply to your review in a PM (since it was too long to fit here).**

 **ReaperX01: I will try to update as often as my other fics and outside life allow.**

 **King0fP0wers: Honestly, I am unsure as to whether or not to give Deiru the Power of Destruction** _ **at all**_ **. His abilities from his devil and dragon blood already place him on such a high level, I fear that giving him that kind of ability would make him** _ **too**_ **OP. And yes, Hannah is his** **Knight** **. And while I have personally not seen any of the anime that you listed (except for Soul Eater, which I just started) I will at least take look at the characters you suggested.**

 **LastEncore: I can take a look at the characters you listed. What anime are each of them from?**

 **GodX: Yeah, I noticed that there were not a lot of OC fanfictions for DxD, or at least not in the categories that I've been looking. Glad to see what I brought forth caught your eye.**

 **PikaMew1288: Ophis would not have a child with Great Red since she had a child specifically to defeat him, so there is no way he would agree to that. Though if Great Red** _ **had**_ **been Deiru's father… I shudder to think of the power.**

 **DarkShadow481: Ophis had a child because she considered that child to be her best ally to defeating Great Red, since she does not have the power to do it alone. Either way, your votes are tallied.**

 **DevilSalyer486: Indeed, there is the facet in that devils would be attracted to beings of great power, which is similar to Kuroka's desire to have Deiru's child due to his genes. As for the family component, that would make things more complicated, I agree.**

 **Wacko12: I actually was going to do a human originally, but I scrapped that idea later in favor of a devil.**

 **Devin sands: Deiru will not be qualified as a 'good guy' nor is he an antagonist like the Hero Faction or Qlippoth. His only goal (for now, at least) is that which he was born for: to defeat Great Red and return his mother to the Dimensional Gap.**

 **IzanamiGio: Your analysis of Deiru so far is correct**

 **RadioPoisoning: I will give it my best effort not to.**

 **Chu: While I will not have Crom Cruach as his only** **Pawn** **or Erza Scarlet as his other** **Knight** **, I will consider having Valerie Tepes as his other** **Bishop** **. It does sound like an intriguing thought.**

 **And AIsack: Your votes have been taken into account, same as with your suggestions of the peerage. Valerie in partcilular caught my eye; I am giving it generous thought.**

 **And now, let the chapter begin!**

* * *

Chapter 3: A New Student

 **6 years later (One month before the start of canon) …**

Now at the age of eighteen, Deiru stood proudly in front of the gates of Kuoh Academy. His features were similar to what they were in his younger years, only now they had matured and his hair had lengthened long enough for him to pull in back into an immaculate ponytail. That reached between his shoulder blades. He was also dressed in the male Academy uniform, pressed and folded until it fitted to him perfectly. It would not do to start his first day looking like a slob.

As he stood there, admiring the architecture of the building, several of the others students passed by him with whispers and some stares. Questions as to who the new guy was, which class he was in, why his eyes were two different colors. And, amongst the female student specifically, of hos dashing he looked.

Finally snapping out of his trance, he looked over at one of the students. "Excuse me, ma'am?" he said, approaching her.

The girl herself was tall with blue, shoulder length hair and matching eyes, with something of a tomboyish appearance and a face charactering the term _bishounen_. She raised an eyebrow once he came close. "Yes, can I help you?" she asked.

Deiru took a moment to bow formally, as he was taught. "Greetings and salutations, madam. My name is Deiru Ouroboros, and I am a new student at this Academy. I was told that, in order to obtain my class schedule, I would have to see the Student Council President. Would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction?" he asked, causing some of the nearby girls to giggle at his gentlemanly performance.

As it, the girl simply smiled. "Actually, I'm member of the Student Council, so I can take you there. My name is Tsubasa Yura, by the way," she said.

Deiru smiled and nodded. "Then, by all means, lead the way, Yura-san," he said. Tsubasa nodded and began walking towards the building, while Deiru followed close behind. As he was guided to the location of the Council, he reflected upon his reason for being at this school.

* * *

 _Flashback: Begin_

 _Deiru kneeled in front of his mother, his peerage behind him following suit. Ophis had called for him so that he may receive his first mission as a member of Khaos Brigade, and move out along with his peerage._

"… _Deiru Ouroboros. You have been called here to receive details about your first mission. Are you willing to obtain these details?" Ophis asked._

 _Deiru nodded without hesitation. "I am, Mother," he responded._

 _In reply, Ophis held up her hand and generated a swirl of colors in midair. Those colors then came together to form three images. The first was of Kuoh Academy, the second being the crests of the Gremory and Sitri families. "Our intelligence… has gathered that the heiresses to two of the strongest devil clans—the House of Sitri and the House of Gremory—are attending a school in the human world. Both houses possess immense power, and can be great boons to our cause if they were to be recruited. However, if they become our enemies, then they will be great burdens instead," she explained._

 _Getting an idea, Deiru said "And so you wish for me to infiltrate this Academy and speak with them?"_

 _Ophis shrugged. "…In essence, yes. You will be posing as a student of the Academy and enroll there, where you will keep an eye on the two heiresses and their activities. Should an opportunity for you to bring them into the Khaos Brigade arise, you are to take it. Until then, however, you will keep your existence as anything but a normal human concealed, along with your peerage."_

" _Should you be forced to reveal your devil status, however, you_ must _still hide your dragon heritage along with your connection to the Khaos Brigade. At that point, your objective will be to obtain a high enough ranking in devil society that you will be able to act as the Brigade's voice in Underworld. Do you understand this?" Ophis explained._

 _Deiru nodded again. Play the role of student, enter the school, and keep an eye on the two heiresses until they could be recruited. Failing that, reveal his devil blood and become a devil of high-enough ranking that he can act for the Khaos Brigade from within. Simple enough to understand, even if he had no doubts there were going to be complications._

" _I understand, Mother, and I accept the mission given to me. When will I begin?" he asked._

 _Ophis waved her hand and generated a portal. "Immediately. Our other agents have already gathered the paperwork necessary to enroll you as a student. You will have a week to familiarize yourself with the city. From there, your undercover mission as a student will begin."_

 _Flashback: End_

* * *

And now, Deiru was here, walking to the Student Council room to get his schedule. As a precaution against having their powers sensed, Deiru's peerage was staying nearby at the mansion unless ordered to go somewhere else while Deiru himself had an array of seals hidden along his body, locking away sections of his power until such time as he needed to release them. At that exact moment, should any inhuman beings try to get a lock on his power level, they'd find that he was no stronger than any other human.

Deiru refocused on the present when Tsubasa stopped in front of a set of double doors. Smiling, she said "This is where the Student Council is. Have a good day, Deiru-san." With that, she walked away, presumably to go to her own class. Deiru waited for a moment before knocking firmly on the doors.

Not a moment later, he heard a female voice say "Enter" and he pushed the doors open. The room behind was spacious but not overtly so, with a table large enough to hold sixteen people situated in the center and off to the side. The carpet was a deep maroon and complimented the light-colored wallpaper and dark curtains covering the two windows on the far wall. In front of said windows was a desk covered in a light amount of paperwork. And sitting at that desk was a young woman.

That woman was in her late teens and possessed a slim, attractive figure with black styled in a short bob cut, vibrant violet eyes, a yellow clip in her hair and spectacles. She wore the Kuoh Academy uniform and, while it was not to say that the other female students did not wear theirs with pride, Deiru could tell this girl took even more care towards her professional image than all the others.

Said girl looked up from her paperwork and rose an eyebrow at him. Taking the hint, Deiru bowed. "Good morning, Student Council President. My name is Deiru Ouroboros, a new student beginning this year. I was told that you would be the one to get my schedule from," he said smoothly. The woman nodded and began looking through her files.

"I see. Just give me one moment. It is good to meet you, by the way, Deiru-san. May name is Sona. Sona Shitori," she said.

Deiru hid a smirk at that. Even if he hadn't read the intelligence reports, he could easily see now for who this girl really was. Sona _Sitri_ , sister of Serafall Leviathan and, more importantly, heiress to the Sitri House. One of his the hair and eye color hadn't been an indicator already, the last name was as well. Going from 'Sitri' to 'Shitori'? Really?

Then again, he mused, it could be argued that he wasn't much of one to talk on that point either.

Refocusing on the present, Deiru watched as Sona pulled out a file with his name. Talking a glance through it, she said "Everything seems to be in place. You've been cleared to enter the Academy as a third year student, but do not think that means your time here will be easy. Kuoh prides itself on the high level of performance it obtains from its students. I expect nothing less from you."

With that, she handed him his file, saying "That said, I do hope you enjoy your time here. Have a nice day, Deiru-san."

Deiru smiled and bowed once more. "And a good day to you as well, Sona-kaicho," he replied, before walking away. Making sure that he spoke loud enough to be heard, he said "Now, if only I could find someone who's actually decent at chess…"

Behind him, Sona heard that and straightened. "I beg your pardon?" she asked.

Deiru stopped and looked back. "Ah, it seems I spoke too loud. Well, Kaicho, I have been a player of chess for several years and fancy myself as being skilled in the art. It was my hope that there would be someone at this school that is good enough to be a challenge for me," he explained.

Now he knew he had Sona interested. He had heard a little tidbit that Sona had in fact been engaged to be married several years ago, but had broken it by beating her fiancée in a game of chess. When he lost—and lost badly—she declared that she would never marry someone who was not smarter than her. As expected, the insinuation that Deiru made of him being a better chess player pricked at her pride.

Not that Sona let it show, and simply smiled. "Actually, I do believe I know someone who would be a great match for you. Would you mind returning here during lunch?" she requested.

Deiru inclined his head. "I would consider it a privilege. Until then, Sona-san," he said, and walked out of the room.

Once he was out, Deiru pulled out his schedule and walked towards where his first class was slated to take place. Unfortunately, in his attempts to find it, he arrived at class late by one minute. The teacher had already begun by the time he walked in, forcing him to stop what he was talking about. "Oh? And who might you be, young man? A new student?" he asked.

Deiru nodded and held out his folder, letting the teacher check it. Satisfied, the teacher directed him to an empty seat and resumed his lecture. As he sat down, Deiru took this chance to observe several of the other students around him. None of them were particularly impressive, meaning there were little to no third-years students of any supernatural origin at the Academy besides the two heiresses and their Queens. How disappointing.

Ignoring the teacher's lecture about the phases of cellular mitosis, Deiru pulled out a copy of Bram Stoker's _Dracula_ (so he had something for fiction novels, sue him) and set to reading. However, ten minutes later, he blinked when he felt a piece of chalk impact his head and heard the teacher call out "Since this lesson is apparently so boring, young man, why don't you explain for the class what this means?"

The teacher punctuated this with a wave at the diagram on the blackboard. Some of the ruder students chuckled at seeing the new guy put in his place, while others held back to see what he would do. Unperturbed and taking a glance at the board, Deiru said "In addition to cytokinesis, mitosis is a process of nuclear division where one parent cell divides into two daughter cells, both of whom are identical to the original and further split apart themselves, resulting an exponential growth in cell count so long as the process repeats itself with each new daughter cell."

Then he sat back down and resumed reading. The same students that laughed before now did so again at the dumbfounded look on the teacher's face, obviously having not expected Deiru to be able to answer the question. Silently fuming, he resumed the lesson while making sure to ignore Deiru for the rest of the session.

Later, it was with no small amount of curiosity that Deiru walked into the Student Council Room when it came to be time for lunch. Just who had Sona chosen to pit against Deiru in a game of chess?

He received his answer when he saw Sona sitting at her desk, only with two new people flanking her. Both of them were wearing the female Academy uniform with long black hair. However, the similarities ended there. The first had her hair straight and down to her knees with split bangs. Her eyes were light brown and she wore blue semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses.

The other young woman had an extremely voluptuous figure with her hair reaching all the way down to her legs despite being in a ponytail with an orange ribbon, as well as two strands sticking out from the top. Her eyes were a violet color that had equal parts seduction and elegance.

Curious, Deiru directed his gaze at Sona, who cleared her throat. "Deiru-san, I have found two opponents for you to combat in chess today. This is Tsubaki Shinra, Vice-President of the Student Council and third-best chess player in the entire school…" she said, waving a hand at the girl with glasses. Tsubaki bowed but said nothing, merely looking at Deiru with a serious and somewhat calculating gaze. "And Akeno Himejima, Vice-President of the Occult Research Club and fourth-best at chess in the school."

Akeno giggled and bowed as well before standing, the action causing her massive breasts to bounce somewhat. Deiru had to avoid staring. How in the hell did they get that large—they had to be bigger than Kuroka's!

Sona spoke again, forcing him to refocus. "Since you have made the claim to being an exceptional chess player, it is my wish that you will play the both of them in separate games to determine whether or not what you say is true," she stated.

Deiru raised an eyebrow and looked at him both. Two of the four best chess players in the entire Academy. He had to resist grinning. Now _this_ was challenge he might actually enjoy. Looking over at one of the couches in the room, Deiru saw that two of them had been positioned to face each other with a small table and chess set between them. Sitting on one side, he smiled and said "Then I believe the first move would be to you, Akeno-san."

Akeno smiled demurely and sat down across from him. "My, my, what such good manners for such a young man. You might actually sweep some of the girls here off their feet, Deiru-san," she told him. That caused Deiru to blink, not expecting the sudden flirting, but he got over it quickly enough when he glanced down at the board and saw that she had already moved one of her pawns forward two squares.

Deiru shook his head. ' _She's trying to distract you, to throw you off your game. Do not let her_ ,' he told himself, before copying her move with one of his pawns. Both Sona and Tsubaki watched the game intently, curious as to how he would fare. A few moves later, Akeno moved her Queen forward and Deiru responded by castling his King and Rook. Then Akeno moved a Knight forward and to the left, but that Knight was then captured by one of his Bishops.

Akeno blinked in surprise and Deiru let himself smile. First blood had been drawn. Let it be seen who remained at the end.

Precisely thirty minutes later, Akeno was down to just her King and Queen while Deiru had his King, Knight, Rook and one Pawn. While both of them had hardly let their emotions show, one could now see that Akeno was unsettled at the fact that she was on the losing side in a match that did _not_ involve Tsubaki, Rias or Sona playing against her.

Then she lost her Queen piece after barely managing to take out the Knight and Rook. Instead, it was some new student that she had only today heard of, and he was handing her ass over to her!

In short order, Deiru trapped her King in a corner between his King and his Pawn after promoting it to Rook. "Checkmate," he said, standing. Akeno sighed but regained her demure smile. "I'll admit that I was impressed, Deiru-san. Perhaps there is at least a grain of truth in your boasts," she said.

Deiru shook her hand when she extended it and nodded. "It was a pleasure to play against you, Akeno-san. I do hope that we face off sometime again," he said. Then he turned to Sona and Tsubaki, who were both looking at him in surprise. "Well, then I await our own match, Tsubaki-san," he said, and walked out.

Once he was gone, Sona leaned forward in her seat, think. This new student, Deiru Ouroboros, was certainly interesting. Mature, intelligent, almost unnaturally well-mannered, and had just claimed the spot of Fourth Best Chess Player for himself on his first day.

Rias would want to hear about this one.

* * *

 **One Month Later…**

Second-year student Issei Hyoudou was not a very complicated person, he'd like to think. He had an alright life, average grades, looks that were, in his not-so humble opinion, pretty good and he was going to a great school. Indeed, for someone in his circumstances, he had little to actually be unhappy about. There was just one thing that could have made his life that much better.

If only he could feel just one set of nice breasts!

Yes, Issei was obsessed with breasts, no matter what they were. Large or small, perky or un-perky, it didn't matter. In his eyes, all breasts were fine and it was only his pride in the fact that he was a man that kept him from wishing for his own. He had no shame in any of this, the pervert that he was, and if he the chance to feel just one of the sets of glorious globes from the many girls at this school, he could die a happy man.

Unfortunately for him, however, it was not to be. Almost every girl here had a hatred of perverts to go with their breasts, so not one of them would consider going near him or either of his two friends, Matsuda and Motohama. Together, the three of them formed the infamous Perverted Trio and, between the three of them, had enough perversion to make even the most naïve saint blush like a tomato.

Right now, the three of them were laying back on a hill and gazing at the clouds, trying to imagine any of them as naked women.

"Man, I gotta say, breasts are the best thing ever," Issei commented.

Matsuda nodded in agreement without even looking at him, saying "Trust me, my man. You and I are channeling the same vibe."

"That makes three of us. But it's all pointless if we can't ever get any," Motohama pointed out, adjusting his glasses.

Issei frowned and sat up. "This totally blows. We've been going to this school for over a year now, with us being some of the only few guys as far as the eye can see. How have we not gotten girls of our own yet?!" he wondered aloud.

"I don't get it either, man. With a male-to-female ratio like this one, you'd think there'd be chicks lining up to get with us. But so far we've got nothing. It _does_ blow, and blow hard," Motohama said.

Just then, one of the jogging glasses ran past them on the track at the top of the hill. Predictably, their eyes were drawn to the bouncing breasts contained in those tight white shirts and the tights asses in those navy bloomers. Seeing that caused Issei to shake the depressing thoughts from his head. "No, we can't give up, guys! So what if it's the spring semester of our second year? We'll get some girls… and then we'll have our own harems!" he said, throwing a fist into the air on that last part.

Indeed, that was Issei Hyoudou's dream. To form enough girlfriends to have his very own harem. It would be full of hot women that would be naked, and naked _all the time_! For a pervert like him, there would be no greater heaven upon earth.

But then his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of several girls giving very fangirl-ish screams, and the Perverted Trio looked to the source of it. What they saw generated instant amounts of resentment and envy from all three. The girls were cheering over another male student who was passing by. This young man was rather handsome, with short blonde hair, gray eyes a tiny mole under his left eye. His uniform was in near-perfect condition, and there somehow appeared to be _sparkles_ surrounding him as walked.

Yuuto Kiba, also a second-year student, resident pretty boy and the "Prince of Kuoh" as his admirers had come to call him. Three of said female admirers stopped him, all blushing and being one step away from having hearts in their eyes.

"Kiba-kun, wait up! What are you doing right now?" one asked.

Another asked "Do you want to maybe go study with us, or go sing karaoke?"

But Kiba gave them a polite wave that generated more sparkles and politely said "Sorry, but I have a meeting with my club." That generated three simultaneous 'awws' from the girls, but then he followed it up with "Still, I appreciate the offer. It was really cool of you to invite me."

The three girls swooned at that while Issei, Motohama and Matsuda glared daggers at Kiba's back as he walked away. However, before any of them could say anything, they heard another set of fangirl cries, and looked back towards the track field. The three girls that had been running before had now stopped and crowed around another, who looked up from his book when he realized that he was surrounded.

That student was none other than Deiru himself. With his impeccable manners, good looks and showing next to zero emotions beyond what the aforementioned manners necessitated, he had been quick to gain himself his own set of admirers as well as a nickname. While Kiba was still called the "Prince", Deiru was "Debonair Gentleman of Kuoh". He didn't really see any reason to tell them to stop calling him that. It wasn't like it impacted him negatively.

The three track girls came closer, one asking "Deiru-kun? How are you today? Are you going to the poetry recital at the café after school?"

Deiru paused to consider that, and another girl added "We'd love it if you went!"

Eventually, he shrugged. "Very well. I don't see any reason why I should not be able to attend," he said. That caused all three girls to cry out in joy. "Now, if you don't mind, may I please be let through? I have an appointment to attend to," he requested. Instantly they made an opening for him, and he smiled slightly at them. "You have my thanks. Fare thee well, ladies. I shall see you at the café," he said, and walked off, not even noticing that the girls were blushing madly at the fact that they had gotten him to actually smile.

Back to the Perverted Trio, Motohama adjusted his glasses. "Deiru Ouroboros. Class 3-A, new transfer student. And in just a month here, he's already gotten more popular than any other guy besides Kiba," he said bitterly.

Issei gritted his teeth and looked to the sky. "It's not fair, I tell you! Just because they're smarter, sexier and so much cooler than us, all the girls want to be with either Kiba or Deiru!" he yelled. Motohama sighed, adding "They suck so much less than we do."

But Matsuda was checking his watch, and eyes widened in shock. "Shit! If I don't hurry, I'm gonna be late!" he called, picking up his bag and running off.

Before he could get far, however, Issei asked "Late for what?" Matsuda stopped and looked back at them with a blank face… before giving them a perverted grin and a thumbs-up.

* * *

"Oh, yeah! This is the life! Good find, Matsuda!" Motohama called, leaning right next to him as they both looked through. What was it that they were looking through? It was a hole in the wooden section of the wall that made up the lockers to the kendo club. A peeping hole, if you will, since that's exactly what they were doing.

"Yeah, I find this yesterday during lunch. Isn't it great?" Matsuda said, grinning like a loon.

However, he was quickly pulled away by Issei, who said "That means you got all of yesterday to look through. I want my turn before they finish!"

Matsuda glared at Issei and pulled him away from hole, saying "No way, man! First come, first serve!"

"Then at least let me have Motohama's spot!" Issei argued.

"Are you nuts? No way am I forfeiting this!" Motohama exclaimed.

Thus began a three-sided brawl for the two spots to look through the peeping hole that they tried to keep as quiet as possible to avoid tipping off the girls inside that they were there.

Meanwhile, a figure in the trees watched the whole thing and sighed, unable to believe that he supposed to be watching a human as perverted as this one, even if was on his King's orders. Seriously, at first it was a little funny to watch Issei get constantly dissed by every female he met because of his obsession with breasts, but now it was just boring. And he hated being bored.

The unknown figure idly munched on an apple as the brawl progressed, when he suddenly got an idea. Oh yeah, _that_ would be funny. Swallowing the apple whole and grabbing a couple rocks, he threw them and nailed each boy on the head, causing all three of them to shout in pain. Those shouts were loud enough to be heard by the kendo club inside.

Issei gritted his teeth and he rubbed his head, wondering where the hell that stone had come from. However, before he could try to find out, he heard the sound of several stomping feet and looked up along with his friends. What they saw made them turn pale as sheets.

The kendo club was now fully clothed and surrounding them on all sides, holding wooden sticks and glaring down at them. One of the leaders, Murayama, said "Well, well, what do we have here?"

The Perverted Trio all broke out in cold sweats, trembling in fear at the combined malice of all the girls before them. The only thing they could think of to say was "…Mercy?"

No dice. As one, they all raised their sticks and the other leader, Katase, yelled "GET THE PERVERTS!" With a battle cry, the kendo club charged forth to deal righteous punishment to the boys that had peeped on them. The slapping sounds that the kendo sticks made along with the boys' cries of pain masked the laughter of the hidden figure, who had fallen off the branch and was now floating upside-down while cackling in glee.

After the Perverted Trio were beaten just before the verge of going to the infirmary, the kendo club let them go. Hasty to get away, all three of them ran off and finally stopped once they were near the abandoned Old Schoolhouse. Issei groaned, just moving now was causing him pain, and he didn't even know who it was that gave them away. "That… sucked," he said.

Ever pointing out the silver living, Motohama said "Hey, at least we got to see _some_ nip before they found us."

Matsuda, on the other hand, groaned again. "Dammit, and that was a great spot too!"

Issei was about to comment that the asshole should have just learned to share before something caught his attention. Above them, in the open window of the Old Schoolhouse, he could see a girl. A beautiful girl at that. She had pale skin and a great figure with breasts to kill for, as well as blue-green eyes. What stood out the most, however, was her hair. It was a deep, vibrant crimson red, as red as blood itself, and long enough to reach her thighs with loose bangs over her forehead, side bangs framing her face, and a single strand sticking from the top.

The mega-pervert found himself blushing at the sight of her, knowing that she was perhaps the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. However, she was only there for a moment, before walking away from the window and out of sight. Once she was gone, Issei asked "Guys, who was that girl?"

Having seen her as well, Motohama answered "Her name is Rias Gremory. She's the most popular girl in school as well as the President of the Occult Research Club. Word is that she's from northern Europe."

Matsuda said "With looks like that, her sugar has got to be sweet." Issei just nodded, still transfixed by that glimpse of her.

Inside the Old Schoolhouse, Rias was sitting in front of her chess set in thought. "Is he the one?" she asked.

Akeno, who was standing behind the catch, realized who she meant and nodded. "Yep, that he is. I've already got Koneko on watch though, so we'll know the moment anything happens," she said. Rias nodded, but still didn't say anything as she gazed at the chessboard. Deciding to pry, Akeno asked "Nervous?"

Rias shook her head. "No, just preparing myself. My pride is on the line with this," she said. Not a moment later they heard a knocking on the door to the room, and Akeno answered it. Deiru was standing on the other side, and smiled upon seeing her. "Greetings and salutations, Akeno-san. Is Rias-san here?" he asked.

Akeno nodded and let him in. He walked over to couch across from Rias and sat down, smiling at her. "Well, Rias, here I am, just as you requested. Are we going to finally settle the score today?" he asked, dispensing of the formalities like she had requested.

Rias smirked. "That we are, Deiru. However, this time, it will be you that stands on the losing side," she told him.

Smirking right back, Deiru said "That you know my policy. Ladies first," he said. Rias took the offer and moved her first piece. Over the course of the last month, Deiru had beaten both Tsubaki and Akeno more than a dozen times together, and the score between he and Rias was an equal 3-3. Whoever one this match would break the tie, and be considered the second best chess player in the school, with only Sona herself above them.

For both Rias and Deiru, this match was more than just a game. Not only because of their standing ranks in the school, but also because they were both devils, creatures capable of possessing immense pride (even if one them did now know that the other was also a devil). For either of them to lose this match… they considered it unacceptable.

* * *

Deiru sighed to himself as he walked home after the poetry recital. That match itself had, just like the last three, ended in a draw, meaning that he and Rias would have to play yet another game to determine who was the better chess master. He had honestly not expected beating Rias to be so difficult. Then again, perhaps this would teach him to not underestimate his opponents in the future.

He entered an average apartment complex and pulled open a door in the middle of the middle floor. Ordinarily, if one were to open this particular door, they would find nothing but a wall behind him. But, if one were to channel the slightest bit of dragon energy as they were turning the knob…

Deiru's personal crest appeared over the knob and the door swung open, revealing the hallway of the manor despite the fact that it was several miles away and through a barrier. Still, he walked through and shut the door behind him, relaxing now that he was back home. The trick with the door was not particularly difficult. His mother had been able to rip holes in space-time, recreate bodies from flesh that didn't even belong to the original and all sorts of other things.

Compared to that, creating a fold in space that would allow for movement from one place to another was not so hard to believe. The part about needing to channel energy was just that the pathway was built to specifically require a burst of dragon energy to open it.

As he walked down the halls of the mansion, Deiru caught sight of the Triplets as they were wiping down the floors. After a rather tearful reunion with Hannah all those years ago and learning that she was quite content as Deiru's Knight, all three of had asked, nay, _demanded_ , to be made Deiru's servants as well so that they could work alongside Hannah under the same master once more. With how earnest their pleas were, Deiru could not find it in himself to refuse, and thus made them into three of his Pawns.

Once he reached the mansion's dining room he sat down, knowing that Hannah was already in the kitchen from the smell of cooking food and that it would best to just wait for her. During that wait, however, he felt a presence enter the room even though the door had not opened. Knowing who it was, Deiru simply asked "What do you have to report?"

The invisible person grunted as he walked in. "Well, you were right. Not only is that Gremory girl keeping an eye on the pervert, but the Fallen Angels are too. What's more, they've even already made their move," he said.

Deiru raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Do elaborate, please," he responded.

"I was watching the kid from the skies after class. He was moping about 'dying a virgin' or something like that when one of the Fallen showed up, disguised as some shy little schoolgirl. Then she asked him, out of the blue, if he wanted to be her _boyfriend_. He fell for it hook, line and sinker," the figure explained.

At that, Deiru resisted the urge to face-palm. Seriously? Even for a pervert like him, to have a girl just walk up and ask to be your girlfriend without even questioning it? Was the head between his legs the only one he thought with? "Do you have anything else?" he asked tiredly.

Though still invisible, the figure nodded. "Yeah. The two of them are going to go on a 'date' this Sunday. Odds are, that'll be when she nails him. And not in the nice way," he said, adding that last part with a chuckle.

Deiru rolled his eyes. His Rook had an odd sense of humor, to be sure. Regardless, what to do about this development? He knew that Issei had a Sacred Gear inside him, possibly even one of the thirteen Longinus. His hope had been to observe Issei long enough to find out which one and then present him with the offer of becoming a devil. However, with both the Fallen Angels and Rias keeping tabs on the boy, that was no longer possible.

Nor could he do anything about the fact that the Fallen were likely going to be killing him, not unless he wanted to blow the cover he had spent a month building so far. That was something he cared about more than the life of a mega-pervert that Rias would try to recruit for herself anyway. Deiru snorted at that. At least with his servants, they became servants because they _wanted_ to, because he had given them the choice to serve him or not. That was one thing that he knew set his peerage apart from others.

"Very well. For now, continue to observe and report back on what it is that happens. Remember, do not let yourself be seen," Deiru told the figure.

Said person snorted. "Really? I can fly, turn invisible, walk through walls _and_ pick and choice who can actually hear my voice. You really think I'm gonna let myself get caught?" he said derisively. Deiru conceded the point with an incline of his head. After a moment of silence, the figure asked "…So, while I'm here, you wouldn't happen to have anymore-"

Deiru held up a hand to cut him off, already knowing what he was going to ask. "I purchased a dozen of them when I passed by the market today. Take the basket and go," he said. The invisible Rook grinned and hurried off to the kitchen, intent on claiming his beloved and juicy snack.

Now alone once again, Deiru leaned his head back and closed his eyes in thought. The plot progresses, thickens and more moves are made. Who would claim checkmate this time? _That_ was the question.

* * *

 **Sunday**

Issei could barely contain his sheer joy. Today had been, without a doubt, the best day of his entire life. His date with Yuma had consisted of everything he had thought a date would. They had walked around town, visited the clothes store to try out funny outfits (where he had bought her a cute pink scrunchie to wear on her wrist) gone and even eaten ice cream at a parlor (he had gotten an awesome view of cleavage whenever she took a bite)!

And now, just as the sun was setting, they were walking towards the park with the water fountain, which glistened like a million diamonds in the light. He and Yuma were walking next to each other, close enough that they could actually be holding hands if he reached out to grab hers.

"You know, I had a lot of fun today," Yuma said, looking up at him and giving him that smile that melted his heart.

Smiling goofily, Issei said "Yeah, me too." Just then, their hands came together and neither of them let go. Issei stiffened, blushing. ' _Dude, this is my chance. I've got to make a move!_ ' he thought.

But try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to say something. For all his bravado, for all his being a pervert and dreaming of having a harem, Issei found himself floundering when in a situation with an actual girl that he genuinely liked.

Then Yuma ran ahead and turned ahead just in front of the fountain. "Can I ask you question?" she asked sweetly.

Issei quickly nodded. "Sure. Anything," he said, and was surprised to find that he meant it. For Yuma, he was willing to do anything she asked. And he didn't even mean that in a perverted way! That was how much this meant to him!

Slowly walking closer, Yuma said "In honor of our first date, there's something I'd like you to do for me. To commemorate this special moment."

Again, he nodded. "Yeah. Like I said, you could ask for anything. Anything at all," he said resolutely. He felt full of confidence. If she asked him to run a thousand miles, he'd do it. If she wanted him to quit being a pervert, it'd be hard as hell, but he'd be willing to do it. Heck, she really could ask him for anything!

Then Yuma looked up at him. And spoke five simple words.

"Would you _die for me_?"

Issei blinked. Would he… Huh? What? "Uh, could you maybe repeat that? Something must be up with my hearing. I don't think I heard you right," he said, laughing awkwardly.

But then Yuma walked up until she could lean over and speak right into his ear. "I want you to _die for me_ ," she said, her voice sounding much deeper and more sinister than before.

Then she leapt back and Issei watched as her outfit burst apart. For a second he caught a glimpse of unfiltered, smoking hot naked lady before her body was covered up by a new, very revealing outfit. Straps of leather covered her nipples and ran around and under her breasts, black gloves with chains hanging off them ran up her arms, a shoulder guard was placed on her right shoulder with three spikes, a thong piece covered her maidenhood and was held by three thin stripes, and it all ended with black thigh-high heel boots.

All of that, however, was secondary to the pair of large _wings_ with feathers as black as night that sprouted from her back.

The now-transformed Yuma chuckled, the entire scene having turned dark and looking like it was nighttime. "Well, I must admit that I did have fun today. Considering how idiotic and childish you were, it could have been worse. Thanks a lot for the scrunchie, by the way. Very sweet. Even so…" she said, and held out her hand.

A sinister red glow appeared before coalescing into a spear seemingly made of light, which she held above her head. Issei, only now starting to realize the danger that he was in, called "Yuma, wait!" But she wasn't listening. "It's time to die!" she called, and plunged the spear right into Issei's stomach.

In the skies above, the invisible figure winced. "Damn, that has to hurt," he stated.

The spear faded away and blood erupted from Issei's midsection. Naturally, he tried to cover the hole up, but that did nothing.

Now that the job was done, 'Yuma' sat back on the edge of the fountain. "I'm sorry, but the fact was that you were too great a risk to live. If you want to blame someone, please God. He put the Sacred Gear in you," she revealed.

' _What in the hell is she talking about?_ ' Issei thought, but was unable to say. Instead, he coughed up a gout of blood before falling back on the ground, already having but moments to live.

'Yuma' still flashed him that same smile as ever though. "Oh, and thanks again for the date. I really did have fun," she told him, before rising into the air and flying away. As she did, the darkness surrounding everything vanished as well, going back to the sunset from before.

The figure watched for the next few minutes as Issei bled out, before the red crest of the Gremory family appeared and Rias came through it, and in turn proceeded to use all eight of her Pawn pieces to revive him. Sighing, he turned towards the manor and began moving in that direction. "Deiru had better give me a whole lot more apples for this shit…" he muttered, flying away.

* * *

 **And so ends the third chapter of Infinite Legacy! Doing this particular fanfiction is really cathartic for me, for some reason, so I hope you all reading enjoyed this chapter as much I enjoyed writing it. Next chapter will feature what follows this little debacle, as well as what Deiru plans to do next.**

 **For those of you who want it, here is the list so far for Deiru's peerage:**

 _ **King: Deiru Ouroboros**_

 _ **Queen: ?**_

 _ **Bishop 1: ?**_

 _ **Bishop 2: Undecided**_

 _ **Knight 1: Hannah Annafellows (Kuroshitsuji)**_

 _ **Knight 2: ?**_

 _ **Rook 1: Considering that last line, do you really have to ask?**_

 _ **Rook 2: ?**_

 _ **Pawn 1: Canterbury (Kuroshitsuji)**_

 _ **Pawn 2: Thompson (Kuroshitsuji)**_

 _ **Pawn 3: Timber (Kuroshitsuji)**_

 _ **Pawn 4: ?**_

 _ **Pawn 5: Undecided**_

 _ **Pawn 6: Undecided**_

 _ **Pawn 7: Undecided**_

 _ **Pawn 8: Undecided**_

 **All the ones that are listed as "Undecided" are one that I have not made a concreate decision on. You are free to contribute your ideas for who they should be. Bear in minds that I will be following a trend here in that all of Deiru's peerage members are either formerly dead, written off or never technically "alive" in the first place. Also, if they are from a different anime, they must be from an anime that I have actually watched, and I will let you know via PM if I have seen it if you drop a character and their anime in the review box.**

 **Now that's done, it's time to announce the next girl in either harem (or in Issei's case, the first and second girl). Based on the votes tallied, the first and second girls for Issei are…**

 **The Innocent Nun, Asia Argento and The Angelic Saint, Irina Shidou!**

 **And the second girl for Deiru's harem is…**

 **The Crimson Princess, Rias Gremory!**

… **Wait, what? Yeah, to be honest, neither of the first two girls for Issei surprised me (I was actually somewhat hoping for these two) but the fact that a pairing of Deiru/Rias won out honestly did surprise me. And it won by a** _ **landslide**_ **, too. The closest one to this was a tie between Akeno and Rossweisse, both of whom received just over** _ **half**_ **as many votes as Rias. In the face of such overwhelming public opinion (and the fact that I said I would take your opinions into account), I will, at the very least, say that I will give this pairing a** _ **try**_ **. I might have some personal uncertainties about this, but I will give it a shot nonetheless. Let us hope it turns out well.**

 **And that's about it. Leave your harem votes, peerage member suggestions and whatnot in the review box, and I will see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	4. Chapter 4: Casual Observation

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Well, this chapter turned about to be a lot longer than I anticipated. Almost three thousand words longer. I really got into this chapter once I was at the final scene, and it kind of ran away from me. Still, I don't necessarily consider an extra-long chapter a bad thing, and I doubt many of you will either. So, enjoy this latest chapter of Infinite Legacy and replies to the reviews!**

 **Nightmaster000, Wacko12, War historian, Logan96, RedBurningDragon, JAKEkenstein, Drow79, Michael289, LastEncore, Cinder, King0fP0wers, Ginoemr and Alex: I took all of your suggestions for the peerage, researched each one, and included them in my final decision process. Thank you for your help.**

 **PikaMew1288: While I haven't planned that far ahead, I know the word 'shocked' will likely be understatement when that time comes.**

 **ARSLOTHES: *Read review, stops, and then goes to bang head against wall* Why. In. The. Name. Of. Anime. Did. I. Not. Think. Of. That. Before?! Seriously, and entire video game/fanart/famine franchise and I did not consider one character. I am ashamed of myself. Know well, good sir, that your suggestion has indeed affected mine decisions.**

 **Gundam 09: While it is intriguing, I already had his** **Queen** **decided beforehand, and she will not be appearing for a while yet.**

 **The ultimate demon lord: Right you are.**

 **Piemaster981: Yeah, I noticed that he had never actually been used as a peerage member in any of the other DxD fics I've read, and I liked his character, so I decided to put him here.**

 **Stormgreywolf, Lazyguy90, Javik, Cf96 and Filiol: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **GodX: While I have added your suggestion for Mittelt to be in the harem to the voting along with other votes you made, I did consider the rest of your passage. What I have come up with for Deiru's magic may not be along the same lines as you suggested, but it is just as, if not more, versatile in its applications.**

 **Squadpunk 2.0 and NijaGogeta: Yeah, she is his aunt, which is one of the reasons why I am personally unsure about that pairing. However, I did say that I would at least give it a** _ **try**_ **, so that's what I'll do.**

 **Leo Saruca: Don't worry, I have added your vote from both last time and this time.**

 **FinsWorldAndStuff and lazyguy90: Well, ask for a next chapter and ye shall receive it. Here you go.**

 **Samdman001: If mean to have one of them as part of the peerage, then I was not planning that. However, including one of them in the future plot in some way is intriguing.**

 **Hakimcoombs: I am almost done with the latest chapter for 'A Shift In Tides'. It's just been hard to find the time do so when navigating both my job and college work.**

 **And Fire Dragon King: No, I did not plan on giving Deiru the Power of Destruction. All his other powers make him so strong already that giving him that would, in my opinion, make him** _ **too**_ **over-powered.**

 **And now, let us begin!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Casual Observation

Well, Deiru had to admit that this was certainly ironic. He had been, unfortunately, correct in that Rias would get to reincarnate Issei and have him as part of her peerage, which meant that all of the surveillance he had his own servants put into watching him had all been for naught. What was more, the Fallen Angel that had killed him, Raynare, was apparently taking refuge inside the abandoned church in town. That meant that he couldn't enter and seek an audience without revealing that he was a devil. Just great. The aspect that made all of this ironic was that he still found a silver lining in all of it.

And that silver was lining was… Issei could be pretty damn funny when he was freaking out.

From the looks of things, Raynare had removed any and all memories or traces of herself from anyone in town after having 'killed' Issei. Now the guy was running around like a headless chicken in search of someone else who may have remembered her. Maybe it was just because he knew the truth himself, but Deiru found the sight of it strangely amusing for some reason.

"Oh! Hey, Deiru-san!"

Ah, speak of the devil. Pun very much intended.

Looking up from his copy of _Frankenstein_ , Deiru raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? Did you say something, Hyoudou-san?" he asked.

Issei leaned forward and slammed his hands down on either side of the desk, a fairly desperate gleam in his eye. "Hey, man, let me ask you something. You know that girl that I was going out with? Yuuma Amano? Do you know anything about her?" he asked.

Deiru frowned in thought. On one hand, he could tell Issei the truth and that he _did_ remember, which would be a great balm on the boy's frantic mind. In the process, he'd also risk exposing himself to Rias, Sona and their respective peerages based on the fact that a Fallen Angel's Memory Alteration had no effect on him. That in turn could lead to some questions that he did _not_ want to answer, and perhaps even blow his cover.

Or he could play dumb, let the boy suffer, and not only keep his cover perfectly intact but also continue to watch Issei make a fool of himself. He'd win on both counts. So, he bluntly asked "Since when did someone as perverted as you have a girlfriend?"

Issei looked positively thunderstruck from his words, and slumped forward. "No way. It really does look like no one remembers her…" he muttered.

Rather eager to get back to his book, Deiru said "Yes, well, I do apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused. Now, would you please be so kind as to remove yourself from being on top of my desk?"

Issei numbly nodded and carried himself back over to his own seat in the room (they shared a Public Speaking class) and slumped forward in sorrow. Ignoring him in favor of starting the next chapter on his book, Deiru settled himself into his seat as class belong rolling along.

Later, as he was walking towards the apartment complex where the gateway to the mansion was located, he spotted Issei again. Based on the muttering his advanced hearing was able to pick up, this time, the guy not was running around because of his supposedly nonexistent girlfriend. Instead, it was because he could suddenly see when there was no light and in crystalline detail, as well as hear sounds that should have been beyond the range of human hearing.

' _Hmm. So his devil senses are kicking in and he has no idea what they are. This should be interesting_ ,' Deiru thought, adjusting his course so that he was following Issei. The pervert kept running around until he, either by some whim of fate or just plain coincidence, reached the same park where Raynare had tried to kill him last night. Deciding to stay on the sidelines, Deiru kept himself positioned behind a set of shrubbery not too far from the edge of the park.

Just in time too. Not a moment later he could sense a barrier springing up around the park, and the sky turned to swirling shades of purple and black as a result. Also, he could sense someone at the park's entrance.

Issei spun around, having felt it as well. What greeted him was a middle-aged man with short black hair and dark blue eyes. He was wearing a dark gray trench coat with a white dress shirt and ascot, black pants, shoes and gloves and a black fedora. What was more, Deiru could sense the corrupted holy energy coming from him, signifying that he was a Fallen Angel.

The Angel walked forward. "Well, this is highly unfortunate. You running into me, of all the people you could have crossed…" he said as if it he hadn't just set-up a barrier in preparation for this event. When he took another step forward, Issei _tried_ to take a step back. Instead, he vaulted backwards with such force that he went over the fountain and landed on the other side of it, to his own surprise.

The Fallen Angel smirked. "Looking for a way out?" he asked, his voice now having a very malicious edge to it. Issei wisely decided to turn and run away, not having a clue what was going on in any way, shape or form.

Only for his path to blocked by the man once again, who had now released his black feathered wings and was glaring at Issei. "Such cowardice. Lower beings like you make me sick," he said, before taking a look around. "So let's see. Your King and fellow servants don't seem to be anywhere around. Nor are you using any kind of magic circle or other method of teleportation. So, I will safely assume that you're merely a Stray. Am I right?" he asked, and conjured a blue spear of light. "If so, killing you will be no problem!" he yelled, and charged.

Seeing that, Issei turned the other way and started running again. He didn't get very far when he was impaled through the stomach again, this time from behind.

Seeing that. Deiru winced. Ryuk was right, that _did_ look like it hurt.

However, before the Fallen Angel could finish him off, a wave of black-red energy—the Power of Destruction—came from the other side of the park and blasted his light spear out of his hand. The Fallen Angel's eyes widened for a moment, before he glared at Issei. "What did you just do, you little shit?" he growled.

He got his answer in the form of magic circle that appeared from where the blast of energy had come. And standing in the middle of that circle was none other than Rias. "Keep your hands off of him," she stated forcibly. Deiru raised an eyebrow. So Rias had come to save Issei after all. Was she perhaps one of those devils that actually cared about her servants? That just raised her one notch in his estimation.

As it was, the Fallen Angel conjured another spear. "I'll teach you not to interfere!" he yelled, and threw it straight at her. However, before it could hit, a young girl dropped down from above and knocked it away. This girl had white hair and golden eyes, as well as a cat-shaped clip in her hair. Seeing that along with her level of strength and monotonous expression confirmed her identity. Koneko Toujou, first-year student and Rias's Rook.

Now pissed off at being interrupted twice, the Fallen Angel conjured another spear and rushed straight for them. "I'm done with this!" he roared. Only for a third interruption to occur in the form of a bolt of lightning which struck the ground in front of him. The impact not only created a small crater in the ground but also sent the man flying back from the force of it. Akeno walked in front of them a moment later, sparks still traveling between her fingers.

' _So, she has Kuroka's sister as a_ _Rook_ _, but she doesn't seem to be using any chakra or senjutsu. Odd; I figured that would have been her main weapon. And Akeno is a user of lightning magic, I see. Actually, now that I think about it, isn't she supposed to be called the Thunder Priestess or something similar to that?'_ Deiru thought, analyzing the displays of power being shown.

Picking up his hat from where it had fallen, the man finally took a good look at Rias and his eyes widened. "That red hair… You're from the House of Gremory, aren't you?" he asked. When Rias merely smiled and nodded, he chuckled. "Well, imagine that. The heiress to the Gremory House is currently in charge of this town. And I'm guessing that he's a part of that house as well?" he said, gesturing at the now-unconscious form of Issei.

Still keeping that smile, Rias said "If you lay so much as a finger on him, you can expect to receive no mercy from me."

The Fallen Angel chuckled and put his hat back on. "In that case, I apologize for the misunderstanding. A word of advice, however: If you continue to let your servants run amuck like this, then they might right into someone with less manners than myself come the next time," he warned.

Before Rias could reply, he spread his wings and took off into the sky. "My name is Dohnaseek. I hope that you and I never cross paths again," he called, before vanishing along with dispersing the barrier.

Now that the action was over, Deiru chose that moment to quietly retreat out of the park. He had gotten enough information from this spectacle. Not only were there at least two Fallen Angels in the area, which in turn meant that there may be even more, but Issei had not activated his Sacred Gear even after being reincarnated and. Additionally, Rias was a more benevolent King than he had first assumed. All in all, a very illuminating experience.

Now, if he hurried back, he could make it in time for some of Hannah's cooking.

* * *

Hannah's cooking would have to wait, it seemed.

The moment Deiru passed through the door/portal to the manor, he heard a loud cry of "Deiru-kun!" and immediately found himself being pulled forward. He instinctually began focusing his energy for a counterattack when, suddenly, he found his face buried a valley between two rather considerable globes of flesh. And he heard a voice say "I was wondering when you'd get home, nya!"

Releasing his gathered energy with a sigh—though the sound was somewhat muffled due to his location—he said "Kuroka, would you please let go of me so that I don't have my face between your breasts?"

Said Nekoshou pouted and, rather than do that, she hugged him even tighter. "But why would I do that? Do you not like my breasts, nya?" she asked. She punctuated that with with her cat ears flattening against her head and tail dropping, shaking her lower lip and even creating a few tears.

With all of that put together, any normal man or maybe even woman would have crumbled beneath that look like a poorly built house of cards. Deiru, however, had been given that same look from Kuroka on more than one occasion, and thus had developed at least somewhat of a resistance to it.

Which was why he was able to pull away and cross his arms. "It is not because I dislike your breasts. In fact, they are just as attractive as the rest of you, which is very attractive. But in any case, what is it that you are doing here?" he asked. Then he paused, and added "And I know you didn't use a portal, so how did you get past the barrier around the estate in the first place?"

It was then that he heard a third person speak up, saying "She got in because I let her in."

Deiru looked past Kuroka to the new speaker, who was also a girl. This girl was a few years younger than Deiru in appearance, though, and much more apathetic in demeanor. This girl had purple eyes with pale skin and long purple hair that contained several blue and red ribbons. She was wearing a pink pajama dress with long frilled sleeves and a pink nightcap that had a crescent moon on it. Lastly, she was carrying a large and old-looking book at her side.

Deiru released another sigh upon hearing her. "Patchouli, why in all of creation did you do that?" he asked.

The girl, named Patchouli Knowledge, replied "She was standing just outside of the barrier and kept yelling for someone to let her in, as well as making a scene of trying to break the barrier despite knowing that such is not possible. However, her attempts to do so were successful in interrupting my studies, so I let her in to keep her quiet."

Kuroka nodded, obviously very pleased with herself. "Yep! I knew that I was loud enough for long enough that someone would let me in, nya!" she declared.

Not even caring, Patchouli said "If that is all, I'll be going back to the library."

Refraining from pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation, Deiru nodded and watched his Bishop leave. Once she was gone, Deiru turned back to Kuroka. "Okay, that explains _how_ you're here. Now tell me _why_ you're here," he ordered.

Still wearing that damnable smirk, Kuroka said "Well, I was given a mission by Ophis-sama to keep an eye on you and make sure that you're doing alright. Which brings me to my own question, nya. How are things with the two heiresses and Shirone?"

Deiru paused. While on one hand he could understand his mother wanting someone to keep an eye on him and report his progress, the simple fact that she sent _Kuroka_ of all people was bound to give him more than a few headaches. Couldn't she have sent someone that got on his nerves less, like Jeanne or Le Fay? Still, there was nothing he could do about it now.

"I've managed to become well-acquainted with both of them and maintain a civil relationship. Beyond that, however, I have not been able to get much done. Both of them are doing well to keep from mentioning any hint of devilhood to me, and the only new developments that have occurred are that Rias has a new Pawn. As for your sister, she's doing just fine," he said.

Kuroka hummed for a moment in though, before nodding and walking away. "Mmm… Okay. Then I'll just stay here until something big enough happens that I should report it. In the meantime, what food have you got?" she asked.

' _And now she wants to mooch off of me for food. Why am I not surprised at all?_ ' Deiru thought, before taking her to the dining room. As he did, he thought back to the whole issue with Issei and the Fallen Angels. Exactly how long would it take for all of that to develop any further?

Not very long, he hoped. It was actually getting interesting.

* * *

 **The next day…**

It seemed that Issei would continue being funny for him to watch. Just this morning he had been following Rias through the gates of the school, and whispers and gossip started flying around immediately. The biggest pervert in the entire school showing up next to that same school's most popular idol? Now _that_ was some juicy news for these human teenagers.

And so Deiru was forced to put in large amounts of effort into keeping his usual cool demeanor and not burst out laughing at how predictable yet amusing the other students were. Or more it was their predictability itself that he found amusing? Either way, he was having fun with this whole event and had no intention of stopping it.

However, he did need to do one thing before Rias had someone inevitably escort Issei to her. With that in mind, he walked out of the classroom and began making his way towards the Old Schoolhouse. Once he got there, he walked to where he knew the main room was and knocked sharply.

Time to start with the next step to getting closer to the heiresses. Or at least one, in this case.

The door opened and he was greeted to the serenely smiling face of Akeno, who had her eyes closed. "Ah, Kiba-kun, it's good to see that you made it with Issei-sa-" she began, before pausing as she opened her eyes and saw Deiru. Deciding to not chuckle at her surprised look and simply bow, he said "Good afternoon, Akeno-san. I was wondering if Rias is available to speak with. Is she here?"

Akeno looked behind her, obviously flummoxed by Deiru's appearance and having to fight to maintain her composure. "Well… I suppose that it would be alright. Don't be too long, though, we're expecting others to arrive shortly," she eventually said.

"Of course. This should only take a moment," he assured her, even going so far as to bow once more.

Akeno nodded. "Just a moment, then," she said, and shut the door. Deiru could hear the sounds of muted conversation on the other side of the door, and waited to be called in.

After another few minutes, he heard Rias call "You can come in, Deiru," and opened the door. On the other side was Rias, who was sitting at her desk and was drying her hair off with a towel, making him assume that she had just gotten out of the shower. Seeing him, she smiled and handed the towel to Akeno before leaning forward, hands clasped on her desk.

"Well, Deiru, I'll admit that I wasn't expecting you to show up, especially considering that our next match isn't until tomorrow. What brings you here?" she asked kindly.

Pulling up a chair across her desk, Deiru sat and smiled back just as kindly. "Well, Rias, if it isn't too much of a bother, I would like you to consider a request of mine," he began. When Rias gave him a raised eyebrow in reply, he paused to take a breath. Then, leaving no room for misinterpretation, he spoke.

"I would like to join the Occult Research Club."

Rias's eyes widened, as did Akeno's. A beat passed before either of them were able to respond, and then Rias said "You want to what?"

Mentally, Deiru both frowned and smirked. Frowning at the need for him to repeat himself, and smirking at having so thoroughly caught her off-guard. He repeated "I would like to join the Occult Research Club. Would that be acceptable?"

Still trying to shake off her shock, Rias refocused on him. "Perhaps. But why would you want to join this particular club?" she asked. Could it be that he knew about her peerage?

Deiru lowered his head. "Well, to be honest, I have always had a fascination with the paranormal. Perhaps it is due to having read so many fantasy novels, but I wish to investigate the world around me, to see that which exists beyond the natural order established by humans. It has been a point of interest for me for a long time, and, therefore, I wish to be a part of the club that does just that," he said, spinning a rather convincing tale.

In truth, he knew that the entire club itself was just a cover that Rias used for her peerage. Granted, Rias did do some digging into the various Youkai in the area in order to maintain the club, but there was no real research done beyond that. Why do that when you were part of the supernatural to begin with? Yet, should Rias accept, then this would be the perfect chance for him to get that next step closer to recruiting her for the Khaos Brigade. And if she refused, he could always see about joining the Student Council.

While Deiru was thinking about this, Rias considered the pros and cons of accepting. One on hand, having someone who was outside her peerage in the club could complicate things if she ever needed to gather her peerage together for something, since she would need to make sure that Deiru was kept unaware. Also, there was a much greater chance of having said peerage exposed with Deiru so close. Yet, if that truth were to get out, then she could try using one of her remaining Knight or Rook pieces to bring him into the fold.

Not only that, but if she _were_ to have Deiru become a member of her peerage, the sharp intellect that he commonly displayed could work to her advantage, especially when planning battle strategies for real battles or Rating Games. Granted, she had sensed no special energy coming from him, so he had no Sacred Gear like Issei or special traits like Koneko, but that didn't mean that he couldn't become stronger with some training.

And, lastly, there was the fact that the time when her marriage with Riser would need to occur was coming closer. If she wanted any chance of stopping it, she knew that she would need all the help that she can get.

Coming back out of her thoughts, she saw that Deiru was still there and waiting patiently. Her mind made up, Rias said "Very well. I see no problem with you joining our club; you start tomorrow."

Smiling widely, Deiru stood and bowed lower than usual, projecting an image of gratefulness. "Then you have my sincere thanks and gratitude, Rias. I shall see you tomorrow, then," he replied, and walked out. The same moment that he left the building was when Koneko, followed by Issei and Kiba, were walking in. Issei looked at him for a moment in curiosity, but by then they were already inside and the door was shut.

Now in the open, Deiru let his victorious grin spread across his face. Yes, that had gone perfectly. Now he just needed to wait until Rias either revealed her devil status to him, or he came up with a viable excuse as to how he could have 'figured it out' on his own. Things were swiftly going his way.

Those were the thoughts running through his head were he suddenly felt the presence of Ryuk behind him, and stopped. "If you're seeking me out in the middle of the day, I will assume it's for something important," he whispered.

The invisible Shikigami nodded. "Yeah. I was doing a bit more poking around, and I found out something about the red-headed chick. She's engaged to be married," he revealed.

Deiru raised both eyebrows. "I'm listening…" he said, and began walking as Ryuk told him about the engagement. The more he listened, the wider the grin as his face grew. This… this presented opportunity.

* * *

"Come on, try harder," Deiru instructed.

Currently, he was standing in the middle of an open field located directly behind the manor, wearing a simple set of black sweatpants and a white T-shirt. On the other side of the field was both Patchouli and the Triplets, all of whom were in the middle of training. The training at the moment was to test how well his Pieces were working together in combat, which involved the four of them sparring against him.

The Triplets glared at Deiru before rushing forward. While Canterbury and Timber split off to either side of him, Thompson jumped into the air. All three of them were holding spears that glowed slightly with unholy energy, and they were looking to force him into moving back.

Deciding to do so, Deiru leaped backwards only to see several golden magic circles bearing the Ouroboros crest surrounding him. He looked past the Triplets to where Patchouli was standing, and saw her with her arms raised to the sky and her spell book floating in front of her. Not a moment later, blasts of blue lightning fired from each of the circles and converged upon him, leaving no room for escape.

Nodding in approval, Deiru clapped his hands together and conjured a translucent yellow barrier around him, which took the hits from the lightning bolts and still held fast. However, the attack did create a large smokescreen, which cleared to show that the triplets standing around him in a triangle formation while Patchouli was hovering a large spike of ice over his head.

"Well, your teamwork has certainly improved. But don't think for a moment that this tactic will work on me," he said. He crossed his arms over his chest and called " **Power Restriction Release: Level 3**." At that, a tattoo of a dragon biting its own tail in a circle appeared on the palm of his left hand. The tattoo glowed before fading away, and an aura of golden energy began to surround Deiru's body. The others grimaced as they realized that meant.

Deiru focused and the energy glowed brighter around his legs before he shot forward, moving at such speeds that his movements were a blur. The first one to see him was Timber, who he appeared in front of and hit with a hard uppercut, sending him skyward.

Thompson tried charging at him only for Deiru to grab the spear and yank it away from him, before smacking him on the forehead with it. Then, while Thompson was dazed, he spun in a circle and threw the spear at Canterbury. The Pawn barely had any time to deflect it before Deiru was on him, grabbing him by the collar and throwing him into Thompson. They collapsed onto the ground just as Timber landed on them, which kicked up cloud of dust from the impact.

With the three of them momentarily occupied, Patchouli channeled more of her energy and created four circles on the ground around herself. As Deiru rushed towards her, she called "Earth Sign: Emerald City." The four circles glowed green before causing four walls of green crystal to burst from the ground, forming a shield on all sides.

Deiru's fist impacted against the front wall and sent out a small shockwave… but the wall itself suffered only a small crack. He smirked. "Well, it looks like your spells are improving in power as well. Are you perhaps feeling better this time?" he asked.

On the other side of the wall, Patchouli gave him a very small smile and nodded. "Yes, the transfusions of your blood that I have been getting have been immensely helpful," she said.

Deiru nodded. After doing some research he had found that dragons, and indeed most other supernatural beings, did not actually possess what humans called a 'blood type'. And so, devils were actually able to freely offer transfusions of their blood to other devils if they were so inclined, though it was uncommon due to the fear that the one receiving the blood would also gain the donor's genetic abilities. Even if that didn't happen, it was confirmed that, if a being of high enough power gave their blood to a lower level being, that lower being's power could possibly be enhanced because of it.

For this reason, Deiru had been giving Patchouli regular transfusions of his own blood, which had revitalized her body enough for her to be able to fight with being hindered by her anemia or Vitamin A deficiency. Her asthma was still providing her some problems, but that will likely change over time.

Patchouli proved as much when she spread her arms out to her sides and a magic circle appeared over each hand. "Fire and Earth Sign: Lava Cromlech," she called, and lowered the emerald walls.

Cursing, Deiru moved back as a storm of flaming rocks erupted from the circles, sending pieces of burning debris in all directions. He was forced to channel further energy to his legs in order to run faster. ' _If only I hadn't limited myself to Level 3. Oh, well_ ,' he thought, before sidestepping a literal wave of magma that tried to swallow him.

By now the Triplets had gotten back on their feet, and were also dodging the chaotic shots while taking their spears and combining them into one massive weapon. Then, together, they threw the larger spear at Deiru with their combined strength. He grimaced. At the speed it was going and the power level he was at, he wouldn't be able to catch it while still dodging Patchouli's attacks. And if he tried to avoid the spear, then he was putting himself in the path of those same projectiles.

Therefore, with no other option available, he raised his hand and willed a magic circle of his own to appear. From it, he fired several spears of his own energy, all of them aimed at the spear coming at him. Several of them were caught by flaming rocks that came by, but a few hit the spear and knocked it off course, landing point-first in the ground several meters away.

But Patchouli still didn't let up, and continued to unleash flaming mayhem all over the training field. Deiru frowned. Alright, that had to stop. Now. He sprinted forward and Patchouli saw him. She aimed both hands at him and focused all of the debris to fire in that direction, but then the glow around his legs dimmed while the one around his arms grew.

"Enough of this!" he called, and smashed right through the rocks that came at him. The Triplets couldn't stop him due to having to dodge any stray shots on the way to their fallen spear, and soon enough he punched right through one of the circles and stood right in front of Patchouli.

Seeing that, the witch sighed and stopped the spell, knowing for a fact that close combat was her weak point. "You win," she declared.

Deiru nodded, before looking around at the field. Much of the grass that had been on it was completely incinerated, and it was peppered with pieces of still-burning rocks all over. He sighed; maybe he could get his other Rook to fix this. Looking at Patchouli and the Triplets, he said "We'll end our spar here for today. You've all improved greatly, as have the rest of this peerage. When the time comes that we will make ourselves know to the rest of the world, we shall be ready. Now, go and rest up."

Patchouli nodded and used the magic circle one more time to warp directly to the library, while the Triplets all bowed before walking back to the manor. After a moment, he did the same.

* * *

 **Two days later…**

Observing the chaos before him, Deiru had to admit that Rias was nothing if not resourceful. By officially scolding Issei and telling him to not interfere with the Fallen Angels and the nun girl they had at their side, she removed any legal blame on her part for any conflict between the him and that group. Yet if Issei and her other pieces were to act on their own free will and start a fight, then so long as she punished them afterwards then she could remove the Fallen Angels' presence from Kuoh without creating an inter-factional incident. Her reputation might take a hit, but not to same degree as if she had just let Issei act without saying a thing.

Furthermore, if she played her cards right, the redhead could in fact end up with a new servant if the Fallen Angels succeeded in killing the nun. Yes, Rias was cunning, he could see that now.

He stood still by a hole in the roof of the abandoned church and was enshrouded in a small spell that rendered him perfectly invisible so long as he didn't move. Through the hole, he could see Issei had managed to get the girl—Asia, he believed that was her name—away from Raynare and her small army of exorcists in the basement. However, he had not been able to do so before her Sacred Gear was extracted, leading to her slowly but surely dying.

"Asia, just hang on. Once we get out of here, you'll be free," he urged her. Asia tried raising her hand and Issei caught it, holding tight.

But then she weakly said "I know it wasn't for very long, but I feel blessed to have made a friend like you."

Issei shook his head. "Stop; it's not over, alright? We're going to be friend for a lot longer than this. We'll go sing karaoke, or I'll teach you bowling. You can't give up, dammit!" he said, his tears beginning to fall near the end.

Deiru would have sighed if it wouldn't have given him away. The boy's agony was real, but so was the truth. Extraction of a Sacred Gear—something that was tied to person's very life force—from a human was one-hundred percent fatal. No exceptions.

Knowing that as well, Asia said "I wish it could have been different. It would have been great to live here, to go to your school and have met you sooner."

"You still can. And school will be a lot more fun with you there," he started, but stopped when Asia moved her hand to try and wipe away his tears.

"Of all things… I never wanted to be the one that made you cry. Issei… I'm sorry. Goodbye," she said, smiling happily before her hand fell to her side.

Listening to Issei yell at the sky and God to give her back, Deiru thought ' _And so ends the life of Asia Argento, the holy nun. Truly, it is an injustice to have someone so pure die because of another's lust for power._ '

Refocusing when he saw a flash of red light from below, Deiru looked and saw that Issei was standing across from Raynare. A red gauntlet appeared on part of his left arm, accompanied by a deep voice that called " **Dragon Boost**!"

Deiru raised both eyebrows in surprise. So Issei did possess a Longinus after all. And it was the Booster Gear nonetheless. Impressive.

Issei roared and charged at Raynare with a wide swing which she easily flew over. When he tried it again, she dodged and conjured a pair of light spears that pierced him in each leg. But despite that, he grabbed them both and pulled them out without flinching.

Raynare lowered back down to the ground. "Hmph. A Low-Class Devil making it this far? That power of yours is something to be reckoned with," she said, unknowingly causing Deiru to nod in agreement.

However, even he was shocked when Issei, after making a prayer to Satan for help, was actually able to stand. Each step he made forward caused Raynare to take one back. When asked how he was able to do move, he said "Don't get me wrong, it doesn't tickle. Even now, I feel like I'm going to pass out. But I'll fight through it if it means I can take you down!"

At that, the Boosted Gear glowed again and enveloped the rest of his hand and arm in gleaming red armor as well, and the glow from its crystal intensified. " **Explosion!** " called the same voice, which Deiru guessed was that of the Red Heavenly Dragon.

Starting to panic, Raynare threw another light spear but it shattered harmlessly against the gauntlet. She turned to flee but Issei, whose speed had increased as well, managed to grab her arm. "This one for ASIA!" he yelled, and slammed his armored fist into her stomach hard enough to send her flying towards and through the stained glass window above the front door.

Then, Deiru watched as she was dragged back inside by Koneko and used her guise as 'Yuuma' to make one last plea for her life to be spared. Only for Issei to walk away and let Rias use her Power of Destruction to blast Raynare to dust.

' _And then, by Issei's plea and Rias's hand, so begins the life of Asia Argento, the devil. Well done, Rias_ ,' he said, mentally congratulating his fellow devil in getting a new Bishop. He then released the invisibility spell and used his devil wings to fly away. Once he was high enough in the air, he changed course and began flying towards the forest. If he was to just let this whole incident pass by unhindered, then it was only fair that he got something out of it too.

* * *

Landing in the middle of a clearing in the forest, Deiru took a look around. In the center of the clearing was a large pile of black feathers that looked as if they had been swept together, and a few of them still dotted the grass here and there. Also, next to the pile was a sign that read "The forest was molting." At that, he couldn't help but sweat drop. ' _Really, Akeno?_ ' he thought.

Putting the thought to the side, he clapped his hands together and a circle bearing the Ouroboros crest appeared, glowing brightly. In a flash, the Triplets appeared from that circle and looked around, surprised at being summoned.

"What the-? Where the heck are we now?" Thompson asked.

"Looks like… a forest," Canterbury stated.

Timber gave him a flat look. "No shit, dumbass. But _why_ are we here?" he said.

Deiru answered that, saying "I summoned you three." They looked at him, and he waved a hand at the field around them and at the feather pile. "These feathers all came from Fallen Angels. I want you three to take all of these feathers and separate into three piles based on the size of the feathers. And please be swift about it; the less time this takes, the less likely we are of being detected by someone," he instructed.

Although surprised and somewhat confused by the order, the three Pawns obeyed and set to work. In a matter of minutes, they gathered the feathers according to his specifications. With that out of the way, Deiru considered which Fallen Angel he'd rather deal with based on the information he had gotten.

The woman, Kalawarner, was said to be very loyal to Azazel and thus unlikely to even listen to what he had to say. Odds are, she'd turn and flee the moment she was given the chance. The man, Dohnaseek, had shown himself to be more reasonable, but was also highly arrogant and, according to the report, somewhat of a battle maniac. He already had one of _those_ in his peerage, thank you very much.

But the girl, Mittelt, there had not been much on her. Aside from being a rather cynical and cruel Fallen Angel, there had been nothing else on her battle prowess, level of loyalty, anything. By the same token, however, that also meant that she was the most likely out of three that would be equal parts likely to listen and someone he wanted to actually speak with. His mind made up, he held out his hand and another circle appeared around the pile of smallest feathers.

What he was about to do was actually an ability that came from a style of magic that he had designed himself and based off of his devil and dragon abilities, aptly called 'Infinity Magic'. The entire style rested on three foundational pillars: infinity, continuity and possibility. By using the second branch, continuity, he could actually affect the continued state of any person, place or thing, provided he had the magic reserves to do so and it was within his line of sight.

By affecting the continuity of something, he could leave it as it was, cause its natural progression to accelerate (such as forcing a person to rapidly age), freeze it in its current state (like causing an object in mid-motion to stop moving) or even reverse its continuity.

By taking that reversing concept and applying it to attacks, Deiru could reverse the effect of any move. Lightning strikes that electrified a target would hit it with electricity of the opposite charge, healing powers would instead worsen injuries, explosions would become implosions, and so on. In this case, Deiru would be reversing the Power of Destruction used on what was now a pile of feathers… in order to create.

With a wave of his hand, the magic circle began spinning clockwise while the feathers began vibrating. Slowly, they rose about three feet into the air and began glowing white and green, the two colors opposite that of the black and red contained in the Power of Destruction. The glow began to increase further and further until, with a bright flash, they turned into a mass of light that then coalesced into the form of Mittelt.

Said Fallen Angel gasped and fell unto her hands and knees, looking around in a panic. "What's going on? What happened?! The last thing I remember was getting hit by that Gremory's magic and-" she began, before freezing when she saw the other two piles of feathers. Visibly trembling, she whispered "…Kalawarner? Dohnaseek?" When all she got a small breeze, she began to hyperventilate as she realized that her allies were now indeed dead.

That was when Deiru stepped forward, saying "You should be grateful. Had I not done what I just did, you would be sharing their fate."

Mittelt looked over to him at that, he jumped to her feet. Quickly, she summoned a pink spear of light and glared at him, yelling "And who the hell are you?!"

Quirking a brow, Deiru replied "I am the one who brought you back to life after being killed by Rias Gremory. My name is Deiru Ouroboros." He then bowed, causing Mittelt to be surprised enough that her spear faded away.

"You mean… you saved me? But why? Why do that?" she asked.

Deciding that this could be done quicker if he just told the truth, he bluntly said "I brought you back to life so that I could ask you a few questions."

Still somewhat wary, Mittelt decided that a few questions weren't that bad, and nodded. "Okay... What is it?"

Deiru nodded as well, pleased that she actually was willing to listen. "My first question is simple: Why did Raynare kill Issei Hyoudou?" he asked.

Mittelt blinked at the question, before frowning. "Isn't it obvious? We were ordered by Azazel-sama to keep an eye on that pervert in case he was threat. If we decided that he was one, we were supposed to kill him," she told him truthfully.

Deiru nodded. "Very well. That leads to my next question: Who gave Raynare permission to extract Asia Argento's Sacred Gear?" he asked.

Now getting even more confused about why he was asking such obvious questions, she said, "That was Azazel-sama too. He's the one who authorized everything that we've been doing, both with the pervert and that nun."

Now with everything he needed, Deiru turned away. "I see. Thank you for your answers. I wish you good luck," he said, before starting to walk away.

Blinking once again, Mittelt said "Wait, you're letting me go? Just like that? And what do you mean by 'good luck'?"

Stopping to look back, Deiru said "Yes, I am. I revived you so that I could obtain information, and that was it. I have no further reason to take up your time. As for my wishing you good fortune, it is because I will imagine that you will need it when you face the rest of the Grigori and Fallen Angels."

However, seeing that she was still confused, he elaborated "What Raynare actually told you and the others was a lie. All that Azazel ordered was for Issei to be _monitored_ , not killed. What's more, there was never any kind of permission given for Asia to be sacrificed. Raynare tricked you all into not only defying orders given by the leader of your entire faction, but then killing a human in your faction's care."

At that, Mittelt's eyes widened as the blood began to drain from her face. If what she was saying is true, then she and the others were guilty of direct insubordination and perhaps even treason against the Grigori. That kind of offense was punishable by death. Still, she couldn't just accept it at face value. "And how do you know that?" she questioned.

Already guessing that she would ask that, Deiru snapped his fingers and a small circle appeared over his hand. It faded away and a manila folder with several papers inside was left in his hand, bound by a leather cord. "These papers are copies of the mission details given to Raynare before she arrived here in Kuoh. I have… allies… who were able to get these to me," he said, before tossing the folder at Mittelt.

Quickly, she caught it and unbound the folder before reading its contents. The farther on she read, the wider her eyes grew, until they nearly popped out of her head at seeing Azazel's personal signature at the bottom of the last page. "So it's true… We're traitors… _I'm_ a traitor. If they find me, they'll kill me," she said, falling onto her rear in horror.

Deiru nodded. "Yes, there is the chance that could happen. There is also the chance that they will be lenient with you considering that you were given false information. Though, seeing as how you didn't even question said information, I doubt it. Then there is the chance that, should you try to flee, you'll successfully avoid capture for the rest of your days and spend all of that time in hiding. Any of those three are possible. What you chose to do, however, is your choice and yours alone. Hence, I wish you good luck," he said, turning again to walk away.

Only to, again, be stopped by the blonde who was now looking at him. "Wait! You can't leave me here like this! You brought me back to life, you have to make sure I don't die!" she yelled.

Now Deiru was the one confused. Giving her life _and_ keeping her safe? He was not her parent; why in the Underworld would doing one make him obligated to do the other? Shaking his head, he said "I don't know why you came to that assumption, but I am not required to protect you. I was not even required to revive you, but I did so anyway so that I could learn what I needed to. If that is all, then I'll be going."

When he was stopped a third time, this time by Mittelt literally running forward and standing in front of him, he resisted the urge to groan. Why couldn't he just leave before someone sensed the fact that his power was currently unsealed?

But Mittelt was nothing if not adamant, and she glared at him. "Well, I'm not going to gamble my life with the Grigori or spend the rest of my life hiding underneath a rock! You're a devil, right? Isn't there some way you can keep them off my back?" she demanded. Deiru thought about that, before realizing that, yes, there actually was a way. But was he really willing to so that up just to make sure this obnoxious little girl didn't die?

Looking down at her angry yet still fearful face, he decided that, yes, he was willing, if for no other reason than to shut her up. "Very well, I can offer you complete and total protection… by bringing you into my peerage," he said.

Silence.

Mittelt stared up at him for a second in shock, before that shock faded and was replaced by outrage. "If you do WHAT?! You want me to become your servant? Your sex slave?!" she yelled.

Now starting to get a headache from both her constant yelling and wild assumptions, he said "At what time did I mention sex in any way, shape or form? Yes, you would become my servant, but 'servant' and 'slave' are not interchangeable terms. What's more, if you were to become one of my peerage members, then you would be protected by your newly acquired status as a member of my house. The Grigori would not even be able to touch you without risking an incident that would make them look bad in front of the other factions."

At that moment, the Triplets apparently decided to chime in as well, Canterbury saying "Yeah, and Deiru's actually not that bad of a master."

"Way better than the last one we had," Timber said with a scowl.

"You mean Alois? Oh yeah, _he_ was really bratty and cruel," Thompson said, getting both of his brothers to nod in agreement.

Looking at them, Mittelt just then realized that they were Deiru's servants, and decided to get information from the source. "So, he's an okay person to take orders from?" she asked.

As one, all three of them nodded. "Yep, he really is. Besides the usual cleaning and cooking jobs we get assigned, he really doesn't ask us to do much," Thompson said.

"He even lets us talk aloud!" Canterbury added, smiling at that.

That confused Mittelt, so she looked at Deiru. "Talk aloud?" she asked.

Deiru minutely groaned as he was reminded of that annoying fact. "Yes. You see, despite being capable servants, they possess no kinds of filters between their mouths and brains of any kind, so they say _anything_ that comes to mind if given the chance. Because of that, they're previous master forced them to talk in whispers so that they didn't 'hurt his ears'. When I found out about that, I told them that they were free to speak however they wished at any time. Though it can be nerve-grating at times, my word is my bond, so I've continued to let them do just that," he explained to her.

Hearing that, Mittelt knew what her decision was. If this guy was willing to let even three annoying siblings like these say whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted to say it no matter how rude or annoying it may be, then he couldn't be that bad. Right? "Alright. I've made up my mind. I accept your offer of joining your peerage," she said.

Mentally sighing in relief—both because she accepted and because he didn't have to argument with her anymore—he reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pawn piece. "Then take this, hold it against the center of your chest with both hands, and stay still," he said, handing her the piece.

She took a moment to examine it. It was so small, yet this little chess piece was the key to not living a life of hiding or fearing her death. As the image of her being decapitated by a blade of light flashed through her head, she knew that she was making, maybe not the right choice, but definitely the smartest one. At least, that's what she believed.

Deiru took several steps back and, once Mittelt had the piece where he specified, he extended both hands. A large and golden magic circle appeared on the ground around her, and he began to speak. "Upon the name of the House of Ouroboros, I, Deiru Ouroboros, hereby reincarnate the Fallen Angel known as Mittelt as a Devil and member of my peerage, to serve as such from now until death."

"And as her King, I do solemnly swear to uphold the weight of trust and responsibility placed upon me by this act, and will act in the manner befitting that of a master deserving of his servants. Should that vow ever be broken, then may all ties binding Mittelt to this house be severed as well, and her life placed back within her own hands. Henceforth, let this be set in stone, so say I."

' _Wow, he's really taking this seriously_ ,' Mittelt couldn't help but think upon seeing the grave expression on his face. So he really did mean it. She would become his servant and serve as such until he treated her in a manner lesser than that of one… or until one of them died. Then, she saw Deiru clasp his hands together and interlaced his fingers, while also releasing a pulse of energy.

Then both the circle around her and the Evil Piece in her hand began glowing gold, and the pieces hovered an inch above her hands for a moment before sinking into her chest, as if there were no barriers between it and her. Once the Pawn piece vanished from sight, she felt a rush of power and warmth as she was momentarily blinded by the light from the circle. Then, both the warmth and light faded, and she was that everything was as it was before.

Well, not everything. Without any command from her, her Fallen Angel wings appeared with a burst of feathers. Not a second later, a pair of Devil wings emerged from her back directly beneath them. Seeing her new wings, Mittelt tried flapping them, and found it that it was actually just as easy as her old ones had been. "So I really am a Devil now," she muttered.

Deiru nodded and snapped his fingers one last time, causing a transportation circle to appear around him. "Indeed you have. Now, let us be off. I'm quite surprised that no one had noticed us already, so let's not tempt fate and just be on our way," he said.

Not disagreeing in the slightest, she and the Triplets ran forward and joined him inside the circle. Then, with one last flash of light, the five of them vanished.

* * *

 **Well, this chapter ended up being longer than I intended. Almost two-thousand words longer, in fact. Still I don't necessarily consider that a bad thing, and I doubt many of would consider it to be one either. Regardless, I am aware that I skimmed over a large portion of the Raynare arc with this chapter, but you have to remember that Deiru's mission is to observe while remaining hidden. That means that him having directly interfered, except for that last part with Mittelt, would have been a big no-no.**

 **On the other hand, we now got to see a bit of his power (I'm really excited to see what else my mind can think of for his Infinity Magic) and we got to see him get a new** **Pawn** **! Yay! (And no, this does not mean that Mittelt will automatically be part of Deiru's harem. You want her to be in either his or Issei's harem, you've still got to vote for it.) As such, I'll list the peerage again for those that want it, with the updated placements.**

 **King: Deiru Ouroboros**

 **Queen: ?**

 **Bishop 1: Patchouli Knowledge (Touhou Project)**

 **Bishop 2: ?**

 **Knight 1: Hannah Annafellows (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Knight 2: ?**

 **Rook 1: Ryuk (Death Note)**

 **Rook 2: ?**

 **Pawn 1: Canterbury (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 2: Thompson (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 3: Timber (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 4: Mittelt (DxD)**

 **Pawn 5: ?**

 **Pawn 6: ?**

 **Pawn 7: ?**

 **Pawn 8: ?**

 **Also, I again sincerely thank all of you for your suggestions about the peerage members in the review box. I read all of them, looked up each character, and have now made a solid decision as to who each peerage member will be (which is why none of them are listed as 'Undecided' anymore). I know I mentioned that all of them would be characters that were dead, written off or never technically 'alive' but I will be breaking that rule for three of the peerage members, Patchouli being one of them. So look forward to seeing them!**

 **And now, for the third member of each of the harems! For Issei, it shall be…**

 **The Durandal Master, Xenovia Quarta!**

 **And for Deiru, it shall be…**

 **Okay, now we have another tie, but this time it's on Deiru's side, and between just two people. An equal number of votes have been cast for both Akeno and Rossweisse, meaning that we are now stuck. Unless this tie is broken (or a different character pulls ahead of them) then the third spot of Deiru's harem is left open. So, continue to vote and do so for one of these two OR, if you don't want either of them, vote for someone else (there were a couple other characters that were just barely behind these two!).**

 **And now, we have come to a close on this chapter. What shall happen in the next one? We shall find out then!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	5. Chapter 5: A Challenge is Issued

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Ah, the joy of having finished a scene in a fic that you've been picturing since the beginning. The latter half of this chapter is one that I've been looking forward to writing for a long while now, and I'd glad to say that I am pleased with the way it translated from my head to paper. So, here's the next chapter and latest set of reviews!**

 **Nightmaster000: Yeah, the decision to add Mittelt was kind of a last-minute thing. I had originally intended to have her head back to the Grigori and be forgiven, but changed my mind and did this instead.**

 **Wacko12: What anime is Accelerator from?**

 **RedBurningDragon, Piermaster981, gundam 09, San, japs.p9, Lord Bael, Lord-Hadrian-of-Darkness, Argorok, Fire Dragon King, Isaiah and lone. fallen. wolf.: I have read your suggestions for the peerage and used them to help make my final decisions. Also, all of your votes for the harems have been tallied as well.**

 **War historian: If and when Deiru's true heritage does get out, yeah, I can imagine the amount of fear that knowledge will generate.**

 **Absolute Mirage, Cf96, Pedro52 and Acclaiming TR: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **RT: As long as the members of the various factions obey Ophis and follow through with her goal (having them help her defeat Great Red) then Deiru will not have an issue with them. However, the moment any of them betray his mother or try to use the Khaos Brigade for any other purpose, then they will have earned his wrath.**

 **GodX: When you say "dumbass spoiled tomato" are you talking about Rias?**

 **Sandman001: Good point.**

 **Hellspam: Your prediction on Deiru's loyalty to his mother is very accurate, though I am not sure of he will ally with Issei as much as his mother will (if I even have Ophis still do that). And your votes have been counted.**

 **T-B-R: I'm deliberately keeping the poll numbers undisclosed so that my readers will vote based solely on who they want, rather than who is in the lead.**

 **And now, let the next chapter begin!**

* * *

Chapter 5: A Challenge is Issued

In an alley near Kuoh Academy, a golden magic circle appeared before Deiru stepped out of it. He stood there for a moment, making sure that there were no creases in his uniform before snapping his fingers. Then, once he was satisfied, he exited the alley, he joined with the sea of other students making their way through the gates.

As he did, he could hear the cries of several of his fangirls at seeing him, along with the accompanying declarations of affection and eternal love. ' _Really, what do they see about me? I might well-mannered, mature and slightly better-looking that the average person, but that's all they see_ ,' he thought, before shaking his head. The thought processes of fangirls were something he wasn't even sure he _wanted_ to decipher; he wasn't going to start now.

He did take note of a mass of blonde hair in the corner of his vision and looked over. It was Asia Argento, Rias's new Bishop, only now she was dressed in the Kuoh Academy girl's uniform instead of her sisterly attire. Did Rias get her admitted to the school that quickly? What was more, she was walking right next to Issei, and looked like she was resisting the urge to hold his arm as they walked towards class. Curiouser and curiouser.

Later, once lunch time had come around, he entered the main room of the Old Schoolhouse, intent on having his scheduled chess match with the Crimson Princess herself. Only to find her sitting at her desk and staring off into space. ' _Odd. She didn't even notice my arrival_ ,' he thought, also aware that Akeno was not present like she normally would be.

The sound of him clearing his throat broke Rias from her stupor and she looked over at him, surprised. "Oh, Deiru-san. Good afternoon. What are you doing here?" she asked.

That generated a raised eyebrow from Deiru. "If my memory serves true, then you and I are scheduled for a chess match today. Not only that, but this is also my first day as a member of the Occult Research Club. Or am I wrong?" he stated.

He could see Rias's eyes widen as she was reminded of both facts. Okay, now he definitely knew that she wasn't being herself. There was no way someone as punctual and competitive as Rias would forget about this. As it was, he kept himself from commenting on that and merely said "I can return at a later date if you are indisposed right now."

But she shook her head, saying "No, it's fine. Let me just get the board out and we can begin." She pulled the board and pieces from a drawer in the desk and walked over to set it on the small table in the middle of the room.

Deiru sat across from her and helped her set the pieces on the board up before letting her make the first move. As they began their game, though, Deiru noticed that she was beginning to lose focus on the match in favor of her thoughts. Somewhat perturbed, he captured one of her Pawns and she refocused.

"Oops. It seems I let my imagination take away my focus. My apologies," she said before he could speak, and moved to counter his offense.

But Deiru was not appeased, and instead narrowed his eyes. ' _Is this marriage ordeal Ryuk told me about causing you such distress that you can't even focus?_ ' he thought, before going on the offensive once again and capturing one of her Rooks and Knights each. Rias tried to counter his offensive, but he could tell that her mind was elsewhere. Even with the match on the line.

Thus, it came as no great shock to him when he managed to eliminate every single one of her pieces and use what was left of his to back her into a corner. "Checkmate, Rias," he said.

Looking down at the board, Rias sighed before giving him a defeated smile. "Well, then I guess we know who's the better chess player after all. Well done, Deiru," she said, before rising from her seat and walking away.

As he watched her leave the room to get back to class, Deiru looked between her and the board. Then, once she was gone, he let his anger show on his face and gritted his teeth.

He had won, but this victory brought him no satisfaction or joy. None at all.

* * *

After school, Deiru entered the manor and instantly began walking towards the outer garden, hoping to clear his mind of this useless frustration he was feeling.

He arrived and was greeted by the image of a large square pond, with moss-covered rocks sitting along the sides and a tiny waterfall in one of the corners. Also, on an island in the center of the pond was a large cheery tree, which dropped its petals onto the water below and left them floating on the surface. A walkway made of stones led to the tree island. To cap it all off, several trees other trees bearing different types of fruit surrounded the entire scene and a slight wind caused their leave to rustle.

It was a picturesque image of nature and tranquility, which was its exact intention when he ordered several of his servants to make it. They had truly outdone themselves, and it was now his favorite place to relax when he needed to.

With that in mind, he walked towards the cheery tree and sat down against it. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, also waving his hand and causing the stone pathway to lower into the water. Then he blocked out all other sensations except for the light breeze and the rustling leaves, and simply sat there.

He stayed that way for what must have been half an hour, because he was finally taken from his pseudo-meditation by the voice of one of his servants.

"Master Deiru?"

Cracking open one eye, his leveled his gaze at his other Knight and said "What is it, Walter?"

The man standing before Deiru looked almost like the perfect English butler. His appearance was that of a tall and thin elderly man in his late 60's, with ebon black hair that was pulled back into ponytail and blue eyes. He wore black skinny jeans, a white dress shirt with a purple tie, a purple vest and black gloves.

Walter bowed deeply before standing straight. "I apologize for interrupting, but I just received a message from your mother. I thought you might like to have it," he said, pulling a letter out of his pocket.

' _A message from mother? What on earth could she want?_ ' he thought, before sighing as he realized that his relaxation time was over. Standing, he willed the stone pathway to rose back up and walked back onto the wooden floor, where he took the letter from his butler's hands. "Thank you, Walter. Also, please tell Hannah that I'll be having dinner in my study," he requested.

Bowing once more, Walter said "At once, my lord," and walked away.

Taking the letter and heading into his study, he sat down at his desk. Using a minute charge of energy to lengthen his fingernail, he neatly sliced through the enveloped and pulled out the letter even as the nail returned to its original length. Rather than a written message, there was a seal inked onto the paper, one that glowed when he channeled energy to it.

Instantly a holographic, six-inch tall version of Ophis appeared on his desk, looking at him with her usual blank stare. Then, sounding as if it were the genuine version in front of his, the copy spoke.

" _Deiru_ ," she began, making him frown. If she was addressing him by name instead of simply calling him 'son', then she was speaking to him not as his mother, but as the leader of the Khaos Brigade. And that meant that this was serious.

" _I… am sending you this message to serve as both a reminder and a warning_ ," she said. " _I sent you to Kuoh with a week to acclimate yourself and prepare for your mission to recruit Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri into the Khaos Brigade_. _It has now been more than a month since that time has passed, and I have set to receive word of any progress you have made with either heiress."_

" _This lack… of information leaves me with no choice but to assume that no progress has in fact been made. While this may simply be due to a lack of report of your or Kuroka's part, the fact remains that this lack of progress is disturbing, and not something I would expect given the high standards of performance set for you by both yourself and I._

" _You are skilled, Deiru… and one would be a fool to not recognize that. As such, I will not have your efforts expended on something that is only an exercise in futility. In summation, I expect to hear from you shortly in a report stating what progress you have made towards your mission. If the level of progress you have made is not satisfactory, then I will have no choice but to deem your mission and failure and order your return to the Khaos Brigade_."

Then her features softened, and she added " _I believe… that you can do this, my son, and I don't want that faith to be misplaced. Prove to me that it is not_." Then the hologram faded away, as did the glow from the seal on the paper.

Deiru stared at the spot on his desk where the hologram had been. He stared for another moment, then another, and then one more. Then, slowly, a thunderous expression came onto his face. He leaned forward and laid his arms on his desk, trying his best to keep from shaking in rage. All the agitation that he had felt earlier came back in full force, and with twice the heat it had previously.

Long story short, his mother was telling him to hurry up with his mission, or she'd pull the plug on it. She was far less blunt in saying it, but that was the point she had meant to send across.

He clenched his first and glared at the surface of his desk, eyes glowing their respective colors as his power reacted to his anger. He didn't even notice when the letter burst into flames in his hand, having been aflame by the aura now surrounding him.

However, Hannah, who was just then walking in his with dinner on a tray, did notice. "Is something the matter, Master?" she asked. Deiru looked up and, while he kept himself from glaring daggers at his maid, she could still see how aggravated he was. "I guess you could say that, Hannah," he said, also doing his best to keep his anger from affecting his tone. It worked… somewhat.

Knowing that, Hannah placed the tray on a side-table and walked behind Deiru, before placing her hands on his shoulders. Feeling the tension in them, she slowly began to massage them to try and work that tension out.

Try as he might, Deiru knew that he would fold if she kept that up, and thus leaned forward to stop it. Hannah frowned and, deciding to try another approach, she moved to get down on her knees next to him. "Will you at least tell me what it is that is bothering you?" she asked.

Sighing, Deiru nodded and looked forward. "Quite a bit, actually. I've been given a mission to recruit two teenage girls that, on top of being the younger siblings to two of the Four Great Satans, are also the heirs to their respective houses. That alone presents its own difficulties, especially considering how loyal the both of them are to their families and the Underworld in general."

"But it doesn't stop there. One of the is engaged to be married—has been since birth—and that engagement is to someone from none other than another of the 72 Pillars, the House of Phenex. That member of the Phenex House also is one of the sons of Lord Phenex, and is a high-class devil who has only ever lost two Rating Games in his life, both of which he did as political favors for whoever he was fighting!" he said, starting to lose himself and begin yelling.

"And now Rias plans to actually challenge him to—lo and behold, a _Rating Game_ —with the prize for her being the dissolution of the contract itself. It's a valiant move on his Rias's part, I'll admit, but I do not hold out much hope of her succeeding. Sure, she may have several rather unique servants amongst her peerage that could put up a good fight, especially if she managed to convince her anti-social Bishop to literally come out of his box!"

"But even then, I very much doubt that she'll be able to defeat a full sixteen-person peerage headed by a King with a near-perfect victory streak! In summation, Rias could give it her all, but it won't be enough! And now, Hannah, for the feather in the cap. Even with all that, I've been told that I need to work faster to finish recruiting her! As if there wasn't enough trouble without that hanging over our heads!" he finished.

Deiru took a deep breath, having run out of air at the end of his rant, and slumped back in his chair. It was very, _very_ rare for him to have an outburst like that, especially considering the effort he put into maintaining a calm and controlled disposition.

Hannah, who had been silent during the entire event, now stood and moved to where she stood before and began massaging his shoulders again. This time, like she predicted, Deiru let her.

Releasing a long and drawn-out sigh, he said "I'm sorry, Hannah. That was completely uncalled for; I should not have used yelling at you as an outlet for my anger."

But Hannah shook her head, stating "I understand and, while I do not consider your apology to be needed, I accept it all the same. But what will you do now?"

Deiru shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not sure. I mean, it's not as if I can just waltz in there and break the marriage contract myse-" he began, before freezing.

Hannah paused as well, asking "Master?"

But Deiru did not hear her. The beginnings of an idea had begun forming in his mind. A dastardly, risky and completely brazen idea, but an idea all the same. And if he could pull it off, then it would provide him all that he needed and more.

Sitting up, he yelled "Ryuk!" and watched as, a few minutes later, said Shikigami phased through the wall to his left. Looking at him, Deiru bluntly asked "Where is Rias right now?"

Ryuk shrugged. "Last I checked, she was going to take that pervert and the nun to go get their familiars, but got stopped since that other girl—Sona, was it?—wanted to do the same thing with her peerage. That was all I learned before I came back," he said, before grabbing an apple from the dinner tray and eating the entire thing in one bite.

Nodding, Deiru rose to his feet and began walking towards the door. Looking back, he said "You can finish setting up my dinner and then retire for the night, Hannah. I have something to look up." Then without waiting for a response, he walked out of the study.

After passing through several hallways that were designed to look exactly alike (a safeguard if anyone unfamiliar with the place got in), he reached a large set of wooden double doors that looked very out of place in a Japanese manor like this one. Waving his hand to disengage the lock on it, he walked inside and was greeted by the largest room in the entire manor: the library.

Aisles upon aisles of bookcases, holding hundreds upon hundreds of books, filled the area and extended far into the distance, with books related to just about every subject under the sun and many having been magically transported from libraries all around the world. Perfect for a bookworm like Patchouli, who he instantly began searching for.

He found her in the sections dedicated to science—specifically chemistry and alchemy—and she was reading a book describing the process of transmutation. "Patchouli," he said, getting her attention. "I need you to gather every book we have on the laws of Underworld, the 72 Pillars in general and the Houses of Gremory and Phenex in particular," he instructed.

The female witch looked around for a moment, and then back at him. "That's going to be a lot of books. A _lot_ of them. What are you even looking for?" she asked.

Deiru smirked in response. "Something that, if it can be done, will kill three birds with one stone and in a single throw. Once you've found all the books, have them brought to my study. And do so quickly, please," he said, before walking back off to leave the library. That set off further questions in her head. It was not often that her King became this excited over something. That meant that he was planning something that was either completely brilliant… or completely stupid.

She sincerely hoped that it wasn't the latter.

* * *

 **One week later…**

Issei groaned as he fell forward onto the floor of his bedroom. There he was, deliberately taking God's name in vain as he prayed to protect Asia from his own perverseness. Then, even though it wasn't a real prayer, he still felt like someone had stuck a hot knife into his head. Seriously, what the hell?!

His thoughts were shifted away from that by the appearance of a magic circle, through which Rias herself appeared. Her face was set in one of both sadness and intensity. ' _Shit. She must have heard that I got caught in the bathroom with Asia_ ,' he thought.

"Rias, wait. It's not what you think. I didn't even look at all!" he said, actually telling the truth. Only for her to not respond and simply walk towards him.

"Issei, please…" she said, before grabbing his shoulders and shoving him to the floor. "You have to take me!" she declared.

Issei stared. He was not clueless to what she meant, but even so… "Uh, what?" he asked.

Looking him straight in the eye, Rias said, in no uncertain terms "I need you to take my virginity. And I need you to do it now!"

Issei wasn't sure what happened after that, but the next thing he remembered was sitting on his bed without a shirt and with the lights off. Even so, the moonlight from outside let him see that Rias had already discarded her skirt and was starting to do the same with the rest of her clothes. ' _Okay, this is really happening. She wants her first time to be with_ me _? Wait, is this one of those times I'm supposed to say no?'_ he thought.

As if she could hear his thoughts, Rias took of her shirt and stood there in her set of white bra and panties. "Am I not good enough? Do you not want me?" she asked.

Quickly putting that to rest, Issei said "No, that's not it at all! You're amazing!"

Satisfied with that, she began walking forward. "I've given this a lot of thought, and there's just no other way. Once it's become known that I've been ruined, I'll finally be free. You're lacking in a lot of other areas, I'll admit, so I'm putting my trust in your potential," she said.

"Uh… thank you, I guess?" Issei replied, not sure what to make of that.

"Besides, what I need won't require a lot of skill anyway," she continued, before pushing Issei onto his back and climbing on top of him. At the same time, she took of her bra, showing her massive breasts to Issei's eyes. Then, she grabbed one of his hands and placed it over one of her breasts. "Let's start here," she said.

"I-I'm not sure about this," Issei said. This was happening far too quickly, and he was far too flustered because of it.

But then Rias look him straight in the eye. "Does that mean that you're rejecting me?" she asked, her tone making very clear that she was desperate.

And she was. She had tried to think of any other option, but this was it. She knew she couldn't beat Riser in a Rating Game, she didn't have the political clout to get the contract canceled, and she knew Riser wouldn't take her if he knew she had already been with someone else. So, this was the only option left.

Having Issei take her viginity… that is what she would do to ensure not just her freedom, but that of her peerage as well. If she and Riser were to be wed, then they would also share peerages along with family names. There was no way she was going to let that man get his hands on the people she saw as servants and family. Sure, her reputation in the 72 Pillars and the rest of the Underworld would take a nosedive with this, but she considered that to be worth it.

She had considered asking this of Kiba, but she already knew that he would never agree to it. Then there was Deiru, but he was still a human. Even if he was now part of the ORC, she wasn't going to bring him into this mess. That left Issei, who she knew would be willing.

Indeed, at the look Rias gave him, he could no longer deny her, and yelled "Rias!" He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

Too late. Just then, another magical circle appeared, this one also bearing the Gremory crest. Unlike Rias's circles, however, this one was silver. From that circle appeared none other than Grayfia, who quickly took in the scene before her. Rias sighed. "I suspected that I didn't arrive in time," she said.

Grayfia looked at both her and Issei and took in their mutual state of undress. "Really, Rias? With your own Pawn, and one that you just recently obtained nonetheless? You know that Sirzechs-sama is going to be very disappointed with you," she said.

Issei blinked. "Who's Sirzechs?" he asked.

"She means my older brother," Rias told him, before getting off him and standing in front of the Strongest Queen. "My purity is mine to do with as I please. How is it wrong for me to give it to who I wish?" she demanded. Then she glanced back at Issei. "And another thing: I will not allow you to insult members of my peerage, my brother's Queen or not," she declared.

Grayfia merely looked at her for a moment, before nodding. "Noted," she said, before reaching down to pick up the redhead's clothes. As she began redressing Rias, who let her without protest, she said "But consider this. You are to be the next head of the House of Gremory. Have some respect for yourself."

Then she turned towards Issei and gave him a short bow. "Please pardon the interruption. My name is Grayfia Lucifuge, and I am also in service to the Gremory House. We'll be getting out of your way," she said.

Still caught off-guard by her sudden appearance, Issei simply nodded. "Um, okay…" he said, while also wondering if every devil women was as hot as the two in front of him.

Rias leaned closer to him, and she said "I'm sorry, Issei. I wasn't in my right mind tonight. Let's just forget about this, okay?" Issei nodded again, and she drew back. "Then I suppose I should excuse myself. See you tomorrow," she said, and stepped next to Grayfia. The silverette created another circle and they both vanished, leaving Issei alone in his room once more.

* * *

The day following Rias's attempt at losing her virginity, Issei entered the main room of the Old Schoolhouse along with Kiba and Asia. Already in the room were Koneko, Akeno, Rias and even Grayfia. Seeing their arrival, Rias stood. "Well, everyone's here now. Good," she said, her expression making it clear that she was not in a good mood.

Grayfia looked at her. "My lady, with your permission, may I speak openly?" she requested.

Rias nodded but before either could speak, another magic circle appeared in the room. Unlike Rias's, however, this one was orange, bore a different crest, and generated a massive burst of flame. Issei, who had been standing closest to it, stumbled back from the sudden heat and felt Asia grab his arm. Rias's upset expression turned to a full-on glare at the sight of the flames, and only grew when they cleared to show who had conjured them.

"And so I arrive in the human realm," the newcomer said, grinning arrogantly. He had the appearance of a tall and admittedly handsome man in his early twenties, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore an open burgundy blazer with matching pants, a gold symbol on the right side of the vest and black dress shoes. Underneath the blazer, he had a white dress shirt with the top button left undone.

"Riser," Rias said, all but growling the name. Taking it in stride, he said "You wound me, my dear Rias. Is that any way to act towards your fiancé, especially when I came all this way to see you?" he said.

Issei stumbled in place, shock registering. Wait a minute. Fiancé? As it, someone who were supposed to marry? And to Rias? "What the heck is going on?" he said aloud.

Already making tea with Akeno's assistance, Grayfia said "Riser-sama and Rias-sama are engaged to be married. They have been since before Rias-sama was born."

While Issei was trying to process that, Riser sat down and slung his arm over Rias's shoulder. Grabbing a lock of her hair and messing with, he took a cup of tea offered to him and sipped it. "Magnificent. A job well done by my future bride's Queen," he said.

Lacking her usual smile but still acting cordially, Akeno said "Thank you for the compliment, sir" and walked off. Rias's stayed where she was until she felt his hand ghosting over the thigh, at which point she stood. "That's enough, Riser. Understand this: I have no intention of marrying you," she said.

But then Riser stood and grabbed her chin, making her look up at him. "And you understand this: you don't have a choice," he declared.

At that, the members of Rias's peerage all tensed, with Issei yelling "Hey!" Riser looked over at them, the look in his eye making it obvious that he considered none of them to be threats. "I don't care if I have to burn everyone else in this room to cinders. Rias, you _will_ return to the Underworld and marry me," he said forcibly.

His eyes began glowing golden-orange as he channeled his energy to make his point. The pressure in the area increased because of it, and only increased further when Rias released her hold on her own energy and her eyes glowed red.

Only for both of their energies to be crushed by Grayfia's who stepped forward. "There will be no burning of anyone today. As you both are aware, I am here on the orders of Sirzechs-sama. As such, the peace of this meeting will _not_ be broken," she told them forcibly.

Riser frowned, but also know that even he didn't stand a chance against the silver-haired maid and her ice powers. So, he let go and Rias and took a step back. Satisfied, Grayfia began "In case communications were to break down as they now have, I have been given permission from Sirzechs-sama to-"

*Knock knock knock*

Grayfia froze, surprise momentarily appearing on her face despite her calm demeanor. The others were even more visibly shocked, and looked towards the doors that led into the room. The same set of doors where the knock had originated from.

No one moved for a moment, wondering if whoever was on the other side would walk away. After a moment of silence, however, there was another set of knocks. Rias, breaking from her stupor, said "Akeno, please let them in." Akeno nodded and moved forward, grabbing the door and pulling it open.

On the other side of the doorway was Deiru, who had Hannah and Walter behind him and on his right and left sides respectively. Upon seeing him, Rias felt a wave of dread. Of all the people to walk in, it had to be him? She had been trying to keep the newest member of her club away from this mess and the truth about the existence of devils. Now it was inevitable that he learn the truth. But who were those two with him?

Deiru bowed his head at Akeno before walking it, his two Knights silently following. Taking in the scene before him, he said "Ah, Rias, so you have Riser-san with you. And not only that, but the rest of your peerage is here as well. Barring Gasper, that is."

Rias's eyes went wide at that. He knew about Riser? About her peerage? About Gasper, who she hadn't even told Issei about yet? What in the world? What came out of her mouth, however, was "Deiru, what are doing here?"

Not answering her, he locked eyes with Grayfia and smiled widely. "Even the great Grayfia Lucifuge is present. This couldn't be a more perfect moment for my announcement," he stated, before holing up his left hand. " **Power Restriction Release: Level 1** ," he said, and all parties watched as a tattoo of a dragon biting its own tail in a circle appeared before glowing and fading away.

The moment the mark vanished, Hannah and Walter also stopped containing their powers, and the energies of all three of them were open to be sensed. Even Koneko stopped her nibbling on her snacks, staring at her fellow student in shock. ' _Devils. They're all devils_ ,' she thought, unknowingly mimicking the thought process of everyone else as well.

Then Deiru turned and pointed his finger directing at Riser. "Riser Phenex, third son of Lord Phenex and fiancé to Rias Gremory. Upon the name of the House of Ouroboros, I, Deiru Ouroboros, hereby challenge you and your peerage to a Rating Game!" he announced, and spread his devil wings wide for all to see.

* * *

 **At that moment, in the Dimensional Gap…**

" **Yahoooo!** " a deep and gravelly voice yelled. That voice belonged a massive dragon that was flying through the gap. Said dragon was over a hundred meters in length and took the form of a red Western Dragon with a horned snout and two sets of wings. The dragon flew through the air before executing a back-flip in midflight, followed by barrel roll and then a front flip. All of it done with seamless transition.

The dragon currently performing the aerial stunts was none other than Great Red, the Dragon of Dragons, True Dragon and Apocalypse Dragon.

Great Red smirked as he came out of his front flip. It has taken quite a bit of practice for him to perform all three stunts back-to-back without messing up, and he was pleased with the result. Now, what should he try next? Do the whole thing again, but in reverse? Add another barrel roll to the end of it? Or come up with a new sequence. Decisions, decisions…

Doing her best to ignore the shouting of her realm's other tenant, Ophis sat on a floating rock and stared out into the blur of colors that was her home. She was waiting for someone to contact her with an update on the Khaos Brigade, be it from one of the group's various factions or from her Deiru himself.

Thinking about her son, Ophis suddenly stiffened and felt her right eyebrow start twitching. Frowning, she muttered "Something tells me that my son just did something reckless…"

* * *

 **Back with Deiru and the others…**

Deiru's proclamation caused another bout of silence, one that was even more profound than the first. No one knew what to say in response to that. Rias, Akeno, Koneko and Kiba were trying to wonder how the hell they hadn't figured out that Deiru was a devil before. Iseei and Asia were still trying to process the fact that he was a devil at all. And Grayfia was mentally question who this young man in front of him was. In all her years, she had never heard of the House of Ouroboros.

The first one to break the silence this time was Riser. How did he break it? By laughing.

Indeed, Riser stared at Deiru for several seconds before his shoulders starting shaking with suppressed laughter. Then several chuckles escaped his lips. Finally, he lost it and laugh loud enough to knock everyone else from their stupor, and they watched as he wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.

"Okay, that was a good joke, I have to admit. To think that some random devil would just waltz right in here and think that he could challenge _me_ to a Rating Game. And the House of Ouroboros? Ha! As if I've actually heard of them before!" he said snidely.

The next one to speak was, surprisingly, Kiba. "Not to sound as if I'm agreeing with him, but I have to confess that I've never heard of them either," he added. Several others nodded in agreement, Rias and Grayfia included.

Deiru put on a frown and sighed, even as he mentally smirked at getting the exact reaction that he had intended. "Well, I'm not surprised. The House of Ouroboros has always existed on the fringes of devil society, and we were never even considered to be one of the 72 Pillars. This was mainly because, while each member of the house has always shown great power, our birthrates are exceptionally low even amongst devils. Thus, we have kept ourselves off the radar to avoid the loss of what few members we had. " he said.

Having one new member after countless millennia counted as pretty damn low, he liked think.

Looking over at Riser, he said "But make no mistake, my house _is_ real, as is my challenge against you. And should I win, then the marriage contract between you and Rias will henceforth be dissolved."

Rather than be upset, that only served to amuse Riser even further. "Oh, really? That contract has already been written and set, and by one of the Four Great Satans, nonetheless. You really think I'm going to risk hanging it over in a match with someone as weak as you?" he taunted.

Behind him, Deiru could feel Hannah and Walter tenses at the insult to him, and raised a hand to keep them from acting. "You misunderstand, Riser," he said, making his lack of honorifics very noticeable. "I did not come here with the intention of having Rias as my bride, or playing around. I came here to issue you a direct challenge. And _when_ I win, Rias will no longer be forced to suffer the fate of loveless marriage."

Only for Grayfia to speak up, saying "Actually, I was given a last resort by Sirzechs-sama. That last resort was that, if Rias-sama truly wished to place her preferences above that of her family's, then she would compete in a Rating Game with you, Riser-sama."

Rias and Riser both looked at her in shock, along with a hint of outrage on Riser's part. "She would what?!" he nearly yelled.

Going on as if he hadn't spoken, Grayfia also added "However, if all parties involved agreed to it, then I see no reason why this young man, Deiru Ouroboros, could not face Riser-sama in her stead."

Rias, whose expression had begun showing a hint of hope, quickly looked over at Deiru. She knew that she could not win against Riser and his forces… but could Deiru?

Riser, on the other hand, actually did lose his smile. "If that's the case, then you can forget it. I have no intention of fighting someone who's not even worth my time," he said.

Deiru resisted the attack the blonde man for that, and settled for smiling condescendingly. "Really? That's a shame. I was sincerely hoping to pit the strength of my peerage against that of someone as distinguished as you, Riser. But now you're back out? I'm disappointed," he said.

Riser eyes widened and he quickly glared at Deiru. "Don't you dare accuse me of backing out. Why would I even walk into this agreement if I am the one with everything to lose?" he demanded.

Deiru nodded. "You are absolutely right. You should never agree to a deal that has no potential benefit to you," he said, before snapping his fingers. A massive version of his circle with the Ouroboros crest appeared behind him, and from it appeared thirteen more individuals, each of wearing a gray full-bodies cloak to hide their features. Even so, each of them had the symbol of a golden lotus flower over their hearts, along with their respective Evil Piece on the left side of their chests.

While the others stared at his servants, Deiru said "But I'll sweeten the deal. Like you, I have a full sixteen-person peerage. If you win, then not only is your marriage with Rias still on, but I will personally give you control of my peerage in addition to your own. Think about it. Your own peerage, the one you'll share with Rias _and_ my own. With all three of them just how far could your prestige in the Underworld climb?"

Rias looked at him, and yelled "No!"

When the others looked at her in shock, she said "Deiru, I'm grateful for the offer, but I can't let you risk yourself and your houses pride for my sake. I couldn't live with myself if you lost all that while trying to help me." Her expression showed that she was adamant on this. If she was to fall, she didn't want to drag him down with her.

Seeing her look, Deiru smiled gently at Rias. "You have nothing to fear, Rias. If you are willing, then I _will_ face Riser and I _will_ break this contract. For you."

Rias fell into her seat at that. He was challenging Riser… for her? He was willing to put his pride and peerage on the line… for her sake? So that he could save her from her fate? The thought actually brought a tinge of pink to her cheeks.

Riser noticed the blush and narrowed his eyes. Not only did the sight of that aggravate him, but he was also smart enough to see the benefits of his offer. He had no doubt that he could win. So if he agreed, then not only was he going to be the one to join both his and Rias's house together as one, but he'd also have control not one, not two, but _three_ peerages to use however he wished. The offer was tempting, no doubt.

But Deiru could see that Riser was not yet at the point where he would agree with it, and turned away. "It is a shame, however, that you're not willing to put it all the line for this, Riser. And here I thought that the Phenex were a great and proud family, just like the mythical bird of flame," he said, before looking back. "Yet all I'm seeing is a preening peacock with a lot of hot air."

Now all stares were on Deiru again, and switched between that of Rias. "Holy shit," Issei muttered, shocked by the insult by definitely pleased at seeing someone stick it to, as Issei mentally called Riser, 'that douche-nozzle'.

As for Riser, who eyes went huge at the blatant insult. He clenched his fists hard enough that they burst into flames, and he looked over at Grayfia. "You know what? I've changed my mind. I'll gladly take on this trash and put him in his place," he said.

Grayfia looked at Rias and Deiru, and saw them both nod. Doing the same, she said "Then it is settled. A Rating Game will be held between Riser Phenex and Deiru Ouroboros, with the winner obtaining the rewards specified here today. Will either side need time to prepare?"

Riser and Deiru both shook their heads. "Then the Rating Game shall take place three days from now. Until then, may you all fare well," Grayfia said, before creating a transportation circle that took her back to the Underworld.

Once she was gone, Riser openly glared at Deiru. "Enjoy these last few days of freedom, you trash, for after that you'll be spending the rest of your days as my footstool," he said.

Only for Deiru to smile, and said "Just hold on to that fantasy, peacock. Hold onto it right until I make an example out of you and your peerage that won't be forgotten." And with that, he and the rest of his servants departed in their own magic circle. Riser growled at having the last word taken from him, and left in a burst of orange flames.

That left only Rias and her group remaining inside the Club Room. No one said anything, or at least, not until Koneko spoke up.

"Shit's about to go down," she said.

* * *

 **And that puts a wrap on this chapter. The next one will, obviously, feature the Rating Game between Riser and Deiru, as well as exactly why Deiru chose to go down this route to fulfill his mission. And we also got to find out who his other** **Knight** **is this chapter. Consequently, here is the updated list:**

 **King: Deiru Ouroboros**

 **Queen: ?**

 **Bishop 1: Patchouli Knowledge (Touhou Project)**

 **Bishop 2: ?**

 **Knight 1: Hannah Annafellows (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Knight 2: Walter C. Dornez (Hellsing)**

 **Rook 1: Ryuk (Death Note)**

 **Rook 2: ?**

 **Pawn 1: Canterbury (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 2: Thompson (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 3: Timber (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 4: Mittelt (DxD)**

 **Pawn 5: ?**

 **Pawn 6: ?**

 **Pawn 7: ?**

 **Pawn 8: ?**

 **And just so you all know, I have made my final decision as to who the other members are. I researched, read suggestions, watched anime, did yet more research, and finally came to a conclusion on each of them. So, stay tuned for them next chapter!**

 **Now, for the part many of you have been waiting for… the harems! There are no ties this chapter, thank goodness, but it really was a neck-and-neck race between several characters. Only recently did someone actually pull ahead and stay there, so new it's decided.**

 **The fourth member of Issei's harem will be…**

 **The Fallen Angel, Mittelt!**

 **And, after the intense voting done, the third member of Deiru's harem is…**

 **The Priestess of Thunder, Akeno Himejima!**

 **Yeah, it's Akeno. The final results only came in a few days ago, so I was waiting for an answer to this debate just as much as you guys. For all of you that voted for Rossweisse or any other character, that does not mean that they are automatically in or out. Continue to vote for who you want to be in either of those last two spots, and it just might happen! (Akeno only won by a single vote!)**

 **And so, please review! If you flame me than Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	6. Chapter 6: The Rating Game Begins

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Well, here we are. The part that many of you have been waiting for, and that I've been daydreaming about for the past week. The Rating Game between Deiru and Riser. Hope you all enjoy both it and members of Deiru's peerage that will be unveiled. But before we get to that, we have the reviews!**

 **To all reviewers who don't want Deiru/Rias: Rias was and still is the most voted for character for Deiru's harem. While I already have a plan for how I want this story to go, I do still listen to my readers, and this is what the majority of them wanted. That said, if the majority opinion changes and people want no longer want Deiru/Rias, then we'll cross that bridge when it we get there. Okay? Okay.**

 **Wacko12: Ah, I see. Well then, not I'll just have to look up A Certain Magical Index. Maybe even watch the first episode if I like the summary. And yeah, I picked Walter because he was one of my favorite Hellsing characters (him and Anderson).**

 **Gundam 09 and AnimeMyWorld: Ask and ye shall receive.**

 **Ghost of the Demon of Razgirz: Sirzechs will be watching the match, but that does not mean he'll instantly recognize that Deiru is his son. And as to how to vote, you just did. You simply state in your review who you want, and the vote is tallied.**

 **Hellspam: Jeanne, huh? Not the firs time I've heard that, and it is definitely interesting.**

 **T-B-R: Actually, you are right to have caught that, and I have made an announcement regarding that pairing in the endnotes of this chapter.**

 **DogOfTheApocolypse: This Walter is the version from Hellsing Ultimate—the one that betrayed everyone, had a badass fight with Alucard, and then died. And now he's been brought back by Deiru. And more of the peerage will be revealed this and next chapter.**

 **PikaMew128: Yes, that would be funny. Though Sirzechs will not learn the truth for a while yet.**

 **FireDragonKing, deaddragon42, Guest #2: Your votes have considered and counted. Thank you.**

 **Guest #1: By popular demand, yes.**

 **Piermaster981: Bruce Lee is your bro ham? Well… damn. I don't have a comeback for that.**

 **AcclaimingTR: Glad to hear it; I put that scene in specifically for comic relief, so I'm happy to hear that it worked.**

 **King0fP0wers: Actually, it was not so much a particular character that you suggested so much as a particular anime. You'll see what I meant in this chapter. And the connection has just not been made** _ **yet**_ **.**

 **ThatGreenDooredBookshop, Cf96: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Charli. : Believe it or not, I'm actually re-watching the anime episode by episode myself as I write this, so that I can follow the plot with decent accuracy. Not to say that I won't take a left turn later, but yeah.**

 **Panzer4life: Funny that you should reference Anderson, as I came** _ **this**_ **close to having him as Deiru's** **Knight** **instead of Walter. But ultimately, I decided not, as I felt that Anderson's faith in God would outweigh his desire to live if living meant becoming a devil. And while I will not be using Kieri as his other Bishop, I did pick a deceased character with spiritual powers.**

 **Golddust65: That is something that has always intrigued me. As beings who by their very nature, represent what we humans call 'sin' then what moral actions would they allow or condemn? And since lust is listed as a cardinal sin, would they condemn lust in speficic cases, such as family members? It's those kinds of questions that always give me food for thought.**

 **And Celestial statos: If you're referring to the invasion during the summit and Cao Cao's agenda? No, definitely not.**

 **And now, let the next chapter begin!**

* * *

Chapter 6: The Rating Game Begins

Deiru had to keep himself from grinning at the sight of his mother's irritated expression. Normally, if one were to be standing right in front of the Infinite Dragon God while said God was in a bad mood, the smart thing would be to run away in fear. Then again, in _normal_ cases, that person wasn't Ophis's son, and also knew that she could very well annihilate them in the blink of an eye. And while Deiru doubted he could defeat his mother if she went all-out, he knew for a fact that he was strong enough to not make it easy for her.

So, he was able to stand before Ophis in the middle of the Dimensional Gap, look into her rather perturbed gaze, and still feel a vindictive smirk try to surface.

As it was, Ophis was silent for a moment longer, before saying "When I… told you to provide me with progress on your mission, this was not what I meant." Waving an arm in the air, she said "Your orders were to meet the two heiresses, recruit them into the Khaos Brigade, and keep your status as a devil a secret until then. Or, failing that, obtain a high rank in the Underworld."

"Instead, you have deliberately blown your cover, ruined any chance of recruiting either Rias Gremory or Sona Sitri, and challenged a High-Class Devil to a _Rating Game_ , of all things." Ophis glared at up at her son, the difference in height between them in no way detracting from the sense of danger she was exuding. "Explain yourself. Now," she demanded.

At this point, Deiru decided to bow before his mother, and then looked up. "You wish to know why I did this, Mother? The reason, actually, is very simple. I did this… for Rias," he said.

Ophis blinked. For Rias? "I… do not understand," she said.

Knowing he would get that response, Deiru replied "I am doing this to help Rias. Her marriage to Riser was never something that she had a say in, and has been forced to confront every day since the day of her birth. Like any other Gremory, Rias is emotional, volatile, and will not be subjugated to the whims of others if she can help it. That's just who she is."

"This formal and political marriage to Riser, therefore, is the exact antithesis of everything she believes in. And knowing that, but also knowing that she did not have the power to stop it, was creating her great distress. So I chose to interfere to remove that distress."

Ophis frowned. "You mean to say that you did all this… just to help her? Why? In what way do you benefit?" she asked.

Deiru nodded. "And there we arrive at my secondary reason for my actions. As much as Rias hates this marriage, if it happens, then her loyalty to the Underworld and her family will ensure that she never does anything that would inconvenience them ever again. This would be the final 'nail', as it were, in the coffin that would bury her defiant spirit for good. That would include any chance of her joining the Khaos Brigade. By stopping this marriage myself, I keep Rias from being unable to be recruited. And if she feels grateful towards me for getting her out the marriage? So much the better."

His mother's eyes widened as she realized it. "So… you're doing this _because_ you wish to recruit her. Fail, she'll never agree to join us. Succeed, and she could still be brought it. Not only that, but she'll feel indebted to you for helping her. Is that right?" she asked.

"Exactly. And finally, I want you to picture it. A devil that nobody's seen before, belonging to a house that no one's heard of, challenging a member of the legendary Phenex family over the heiress of the House of Gremory, who also happens to a sister to the current Lucifer? If I wanted a springboard to use to launch myself upwards in devil society, I'm not going to get much better than this," Deiru said, letting his smirk rise to the surface.

Ophis was silent as she considered all this. By helping Rias, her son was keeping the girl open for recruitment, creating a sense of indebtedness to Deiru within said heiress, and launching himself into the Underworld's spotlight, all in one.

Three birds, one stone, in a single throw. Just as Deiru said.

But then Ophis frowned once more, and looked back at her son. "Your plan… is a risky one. Should the fallout from this have any kind of impact that you haven't predicted, it will be your responsibility to fix it," he warned.

"I understand, Mother. Even so, I consider the risks to be worth the rewards," Deiru stated.

Convinced, Ophis said "Very well. Then I… will allow you to continue with this plan. Be careful, son."

With that, she ripped open a portal back to the manor. Deiru stood and, after bowing one more time, leaved. As the portal closed behind him, Ophis sighed. Why did she feel like this was only the start of her headaches?

* * *

 **Three days later…**

"You know, I'm really starting to hate all this waiting," Ryuk complained, even as he laid back on the ceiling and chewed on an apple.

He, Deiru, and the rest of his peerage were all sitting in the main room of the Old Schoolhouse, waiting for the Rating Game to begin. Everyone besides himself was also wearing the same gray robes as before, keeping their appearances hidden until the time came to reveal themselves.

"Unfortunately, Ryuk, there's nothing we can do. We are supposed to stay here until the construction for the area for the Rating Game will be in is finished," Walter told him, sitting back on one of the couches and taking a sip of his Earl Gray.

But Ryuk groaned and lowered down onto the floor, staring at the old vampire. "And sitting around is what I've been doing for the better part of eternity. Back in the Shinigami Realm, that was almost all you could do. Sit around, take a nap, or gamble. It was maddening," he said.

Mittelt, who had been listening, raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you let Deiru make you into his Rook? So you wouldn't be bored anymore?" she asked.

Ryuk nodded. "That's right. Being a part of this peerage has been the most entertainment I had since I dropped my Death Note into that one version of Japan," he said, sighing fondly as he remembered the kick he got out of watching that human, Light, try to rid the world of all criminals.

A real shame that the kid had to die. His actions were fun while they lasted.

Refocusing on the present, he asked "So, exactly what's the plan for once we get there?"

It was Deiru who replied, "We'll form our plan of attack once we've arrived. It would make no sense to start making plans when we don't even know the layout of where we'll be fighting."

With that, they all lapsed into silence, waiting for the moment when the fight would begin. However, that was interrupted when they heard the door open, and two people walked in. Those two were, to Deiru's surprise, Sona and Tsubaki.

Rising to his feet, Deiru said "Sona-san, this is certainly a surprise. A pleasant one, to be sure, but one all the same. What brings you here?"

Taking a moment to answer, Sona looked over the gathered members of his peerage. "I have to say, your peerage certainly doesn't lack when it comes to quantity," he commented, before looking at him. "Considering the importance of this match and the stakes involved with it, the entire Rating Game is being broadcasted live in the Underworld. I came here to inform you of that."

Deiru stared for a moment, before smiling widely. "So we have an even larger audience than I anticipated. This will be perfect for our debut," he said.

Sona's gaze hardened. "That's another thing. While I cannot fault you for keeping your devil hood a secret when Rias and I were doing the same thing, the fact that you were a devil and were able to remain undetected this whole time does not sit well with me," he told him.

Before he could raise any objections, however, she added "All the same, as one devil to another, I wish you and your peerage good luck in your first Rating Game." Then she turned and walked out, leaving the member of Deiru's peerage to stare at the door.

"What the hell was that all about?" Canterbury thought aloud, before Hannah answered "It was both a congratulation and a warning. She's impressed with us so far, but she also wanted to know that deceiving her like that again would not be wise."

Deiru nodded, even as he mentally thought that, if he did piss Sona off, the only way she could actually be of any harm to him was if she somehow got her sister Serafall involved. Beyond that, he was unafraid.

It was then that Grayfia appeared from a transportation circle, one that was large enough for Deiru and all members of peerage. "The time has arrived. Please step into the circle and we'll begin," she declared.

Ryuk grinned, "About time!" he called, before dropping from the ceiling and landing on his feet inside the circle. The rest of them also filed in, and waited. The circle glowed brighter and brighter, until it blinded them from their surroundings.

Once the light faded away, Deiru looked around… and saw the exact same room as before. Did is not work?

Then they heard Grayfia's voice, seemingly coming from all angles at once. " _Greetings to one and all. My name is Grayfia Lucifuge, and I shall serve as the referee for this Rating Game between Riser Phenex and Deiru Ouroboros. The battlefield for this match has been made to serve as an exact replica of Kuoh Aacademy, the school which Deiru-sama and Rias Gremory both attend in the human realm. Each team has been given an area that will be designated as their base of operations, which is where enemy Pawns will become eligible for Promotion._ "

At that moment, there was a flash of silver and a map appeared on the table in the middle of the room. Taking a look at it, Deiru noticed that all the sections of the school were present and labeled. " _Riser Phenex, your territory has been designated as the Student Council room in the Main Building. Meanwhile, the territory belonging to Deiru Ouroboros will be the Occult Research Club room in the Old Schoolhouse. Good luck to both sides and let the game begin_ ," she said, and then went silent.

The rest of the peerage looked to Deiru. "Your orders, sir?" Walter asked.

Deiru looked over map, now on full focus. "The fact that they made the area to match that of Academy gives us the advantage of being in a familiar landscape. Likely something they did to help us 'newcomers' against someone with a pedigree as good as Riser's. Oh, well. Makes that easier for us," he said, before putting the map down to let the others see it.

"Normally, I would suggest that we attempt to capture the Gymnasium, as that place is equidistant from both here and the Main Building. However, Riser will likely try to same thing, which means that we can take advantage of that," he said, before looking at his other Rook and one of his Pawns.

"We need to do more than just win this Rating Game. If we are going to get the boost in status that we planned for out of this, we need to give the audience a show. A display that will prove that our strength is beyond anything they anticipated. That's I'm charging you two with approaching the Gym… and destroying it," he declared.

Hannah blinked. "Destroy the Gym? As you certain about that, Master?" she asked.

Deiru nodded. "Even if we did capture the Gymnasium, Riser will likely have some sort of back-up plan to fall back on in that scenario. But if we destroy the Gym along with anyone inside, that will force him to rethink his plans. An enemy that is forced to re-plan will be easier to combat than one who is not. So go," he ordered.

His Rook nodded. "You won't need to worry, Deiru Ouroboros. We will demolish the Gymnasium and do so without fail!" he declared, striking several poses that caused the muscles on his arms to flex with each movement.

His Pawn, ignoring the display, smiled darkly. "A free pass to fight anyone I see? I'll take that," she said. And with that, the two of them walked out, intent on dealing some massive damage.

Meanwhile, Deiru turned his focus to Hannah and Ryuk. "Also, I want the two of you patrolling the skies. We don't know when Riser will deploy his Queen, and I want you two to intercept her when he does," he said.

Hannah bowed. "Consider it done, my lord," she said, while Ryuk sighed.

"You know, it's too bad you decided to not use Queen-y in this match. If you did that, this could be over in less than an hour," he pointed out.

Deiru frowned and looked at up him. "You know very well why I'm not letting _her_ loose on Riser's peerage, Ryuk," he said sternly.

The Shinigami waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah. Doesn't know how to hold back, would have gone a rampage, killed every enemy she faced faster than they could be retired. I get it, I get it," he said, before opening the window to the room and flying off. Hannah followed.

Sitting back, Deiru looked at the map. "And so, the first act has begun. Enjoy this Dance Macabre while it lasts, Riser. You won't enjoy its finale," he said.

* * *

The Rook and Pawn swiftly made their way to the outside of the gymnasium, and stopped. Looking over at his fellow subordinate, the Rook said "I can bring the entire building down by destroying the foundation beneath it, but it will take me some time. Can you keep whoever's in there occupied until then?"

Retaining her dark smile, the Pawn said "With pleasure," and ran inside.

Inside the gym, standing around and waiting for the enemy to appear, were four girls. One of them was a well-endowed young woman of Chinese origin, with black hair that was in two Chinese buns on the sides of her head, reached her shoulder in the back, and formed a V across her forehead. She was wearing a blue qipao dress with gold accents that showed off her bust, a white sash and black heels. This was Xuelan, one of Riser's Rooks.

The next two appeared to be twins, as they were both very young with turquoise hair and blues eyes, though the hair was kept back with yellow ribbons that they were on different sides. They were wearing white T-shirts with blue accents, black leggings and blue sneakers and white socks that reached their knees. Both of them carried a large bag on their backs. These two were Ile and Nel, both Pawns.

The final girl was also young, with dark blues eyes and long blonde hair that was tied into twin drill-like curls and several bangs hanging over the forehead. She was wearing a long, pink dress with white frills and a magenta bow. This was Ravel Phenex, Riser's younger sister and well as his Bishop. Of the four of them, she was the first to sense someone enter the Gym.

"Looks like we have company," she said, and had the twins flip on the lights. Standing before them was a young woman who had her features covered by a gray cloak, although they could see the golden lotus flower printed over her heart and the Pawn symbol on the opposite side of her chest.

Xuelan snorted. "Really? All four of us together and they send just a Pawn? This is going to be easier than I thought," she said arrogantly, causing the twins to laugh.

Ravel, however, wasn't so quick to judge, and asked "What's your name?"

For a moment, the woman didn't respond. Then she began reaching for her hood. "You don't deserve to know my real name…" she began, and pulled her hood off. The unknown Pawn had pale skin and long pink hair that reached the small of her back. Only one of her eyes was visible, but it was of a similar shade, though more red than pink. Lastly, poking out of her hair were two horns that looked somewhat like cat ears, depending on the angle.

The woman looked at them, showing that her eyes were rife with madness and bloodlust. "…But for the duration of this fight, you can call me Lucy."

Xuelan smirked. "Alright, then, _Lucy_. In the name of Riser-sama, prepare to fall!" she yelled, and shot forward. As she got closer, her feet caught fire and Xuelan tensed, ready to go into a spinning kick that would take Lucy's head off her shoulders.

Lucy didn't move or try to retaliate, simply giving her that same maddened stare. Once Xuelan was less only a few feet away, however, the busty Rook stopped. Her expression morphed into one of shock when she felt something slam into her stomach hard enough to not only stop her in her tracks, but also knock the wind out of her. Looking down, she didn't see anything touching her, but suddenly felt that same force hit her in the chin from below, snapping her head back and sending her flying onto her back.

"Xuelan!" Ile and Nel called, while Ravel frowned in concern. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Xuelan grunted and got back to her feet, looking at Lucy much more warily now. "I'm fine. Not sure what that was, but it didn't do anything permanent," she said.

The twins looked at her, then each other, and reached for the bags on their backs. "Well, we're helping!" Nel called, and Ile added "And don't even try stopping us!"

She didn't and simply charged at Lucy again. The twins each tossed away the bags and revealed what was in them: a pair of chainsaws. Grinning, the two revved their weapons to full power and ran forward as well.

Xuelan was looking around even as she kept part of her attention on Lucy herself, trying to see any attacks coming. Rather than go for a kick, this time she tried to a simple one-two jab, enhanced by fire. But she didn't even get close enough to try before being knocked back again. Whatever it was, that same force punch her in the right side of her ribcage hard enough to create a dull _crack_ and send her stumbling back. The twins fared no better, as they also felt something slam them into each other and then towards the wall to their left hard enough to make a crater.

Ravel watched this and narrowed her eyes. This Lucy girl wasn't even moving, and she was able to fend off an assault twice in a row. How was she doing it?

She watched as Ile and Nel got up and charged again, only this time they split up and came from either side of Lucy. Only for them both to be blasted back. And when Xuelan tried to jump into air and do a falling kick from above, she too was repelled violently.

' _So physical attacks won't work. How about magic?_ ' she said, and spread out her arms. An orb of fire appeared in each hand, and she called "Take this!" before throwing them both at Lucy. Both burst into floating embers once they came close. The twins appeared before her and both tried to cleave her in half with their chainsaws, and said chainsaws were stopped midair.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the Real Old Schoolhouse…**

Rias and the rest of her peerage had gathered together to watch the Rating Game on a screen set against the side wall, knowing that the fate of their President and King hung in the balance. As such, they were treated a live showing of Riser's subordinates trying and failing, over and over, to so much as hit Deiru's Pawn, Lucy.

Issei was shocked at seeing someone who had the same Evil Piece as himself take on two other Pawns and a Rook with ease while Asia was sitting next to him in similar awe. Kiba and the others, however, had already accepted it and were trying to decipher how it was that Lucy was keeping every one of her foes at bay.

' _Some sort of magic? No, there's be signs of it. A magic circle, some sort of glow, something. And besides, her enemies would have sensed it already_ ,' Akeno thought.

Kiba looked down at the sword he had in his lap, and then back at the screen. ' _Is she using some sort of Sacred Gear? But she's not human, or at least that's what those horns would imply. Or is she part human, and that part of her is what enabled her to get it?_ ' he wondered. However, the theory of a Sacred Gear didn't sound all that likely.

Then they watched the twins begin swinging over and over again in an unrelenting volley of attacks. Yet they still never even touched her. They could see and hear Nel gritted her teeth, yelling "Stop blocking us and let us kill you!" while Ile nodded in agreement. Then they were both thrown into the air hard enough to hit the ceiling, and fell back onto the ground.

They watched Xuelan make yet another assault attempt, this time a barrage of both flaming punches and kicks. Only for each and every one to be blocked once she got close.

It was at that point, seeing so many attempts in such close sequence, that Koneko noticed something. "President?" she said, catching Rias's attention.

"Yes, Koneko? What is it?" she asked.

The white-haired girl looked back at the screen. "Is it me, or is she only blocking attacks once they come within a certain distance from her?" she questioned.

Rias's eyes widened, and she quickly refocused on the fight. Xuelan had gotten close to Lucy and shot her fist forward, unleashing a straight blast of pure fire. However, once the fire was a total of two meters away from Lucy, it abruptly dispersed as if hitting an invisible wall. "You're right, Koneko," she said, now watching even more intensely than before.

* * *

 **Back in the Rating Game…**

Ravel, who had hung back after her first attack, had come to the same conclusion that Rias did. ' _So, she can only block attacks once they're within two meters of herself. And even then, she has to know where they're coming from_ ,' she thought, trying to come up with a strategy while the other kept Lucy occupied.

But then Lucy glared at Xuelan, and muttered "Pathetic."

That was the only warning she received before she felt that unfortunately familiar force wrap itself around her arms and hoist her into the air. She struggled and put every ounce of her enhanced stretch into break free, but it accomplished nothing. "Let me go, you bitch!" she yelled.

Lucy stared up at her with her visible eye, even as she kept part of her focus on constantly pushing back Nel and Ile. "Consider yourself lucky. Though our mission is to humiliate you and Riser, Deiru told me that I'm not allowed to kill. So, I'll just have to settle for hurting you badly enough that you're forcibly retired," she said. Then, she felt Lucy unleash her own volley of blows on her torso, legs and face.

Xuelan cried out in pain, as each hit packed as much strength as her own did, and came at her with even greater speed than she had used. Seeing that, Ravel knew that she could no longer hang back and observe. This was a foe they would not be able to so easily defeat, even if they were Phenexes. And so, she willed a pair of flaming wings to burst from the back of her dress and carry her up to Xuelan.

"Release her!" she called, and threw another fireball at Lucy. It was blocked, as she expected, but the smokescreen it created did give her the chance to fly in without getting hit. Then she grabbed Xuelan by the waist and pulled with all her might. To her surprise, Lucy didn't try to stop her, and simply released Xuelan so that the blonde could catch her. The twins also stopped at the sight of this, and fell back.

Once they were a safe distance from the enemy Pawn, Ravel laid Xuelan on the ground. The busty Kung Fu fighter groaned as she could feel all the blows Lucy had inflicted throb in pain. She was positive that more than one rib had been broken, and her stomach and chest hurt with every breath she took. She wasn't injured enough to be retired, not yet, but she certainly would need a few minutes to recuperate.

Even so, she said "Ravel…" and looked up at the Bishop. "When she pulled me into air… it felt like… something _grabbed_ me by the arms… and every hit… felt like a punch…" she managed to get out, before stopping so that she didn't have to hurt herself by talking any further.

Ravel's eyes went wide at that, she quickly went over all the data she had collected. An unseen force or object, a two-meter effective range, the ability to _grab_ and _punch_ someone or something…

Could it be?

She stood back up and stared at Lucy, while also channeling energy to her eyes. Being a Phenex, a devil who could manipulate fire and wind, she could theoretically sense disturbances in the air around her if she focused hard enough. And if that were the case, then maybe she could see those disturbances too…

It worked. Ravel's eyes glowed orange and she saw that, hovering around Lucy, there were four _arms_ that were vibrating and displacing the air around them as they moved. The vibrations weren't intense enough to make them visible in normal scenarios, hence the reason why she couldn't see them before.

But now she knew what Lucy's weapon was, and smirked. "So, that's it. Two-meter long, invisible arms, huh? That's quite a weapon," she said. Ile and Nel's eyes widened, and they also began channeling energy to their eyes. Not having the power of aerokinesis, it took them much more energy, but they were also able to see the arms hovering around their enemy.

Lucy raised an eyebrow at her statement. "So, you can see my vectors, then?" she asked. When they nodded in reply, she grinned. "Good. And here I thought this was starting to get boring. But if you can see then, then that just means that I'll have to take the fight to you."

Then she ran forward, and the members of Riser's peerage did the same. Lucy sent one of her vectors at each of them and, now able to see them, they each dodged. However, even as they went past, the end of the vectors twisted around and came at them behind. Ravel saw it and ducked, but the twins didn't and were both slammed face-first into the floor.

They got back up and charged, moving with practiced synchrony as they dodged the vectors and swung at Lucy. She leaned back and let the chainsaws pass right above her face, before straightening and sending her fourth vector at Ile. The green-haired girl didn't react in time and was met with a straight blow to the face, sending her back and even knocking a tooth loose.

"Ile!" Nel called, before glaring at Lucy with renewed fury. "No one hurts my sister and gets away with it!" she roared, and swung with savage abandon. Lucy leaned to the side to avoid a blow, but that put her in the path of trio of fireballs that Ravel had sent flying at her from behind. Three of her vectors wrapped around her to create a shell, one which the fireballs slammed into and fizzled out.

Then Lucy turned to face her and sent those same three at Ravel, who flew upwards in a corkscrew to avoid them. Then she covered her entire front in fire and dive-bombed at Lucy, intent and taking them both to ground while frying the pink-haired girl in the process.

Only for Lucy to grab Nel and jump backwards while pulling her forward. The result was that the two of them effectively swapped places, and Ravel just barely canceled the flames cloaking her before she crashed into the Pawn. The two ended up a tangled mess of limbs and blonde and green hair, while Lucy focused to the prone form of Xuelan. "Goodbye," she said, and sent all four of her vectors at her.

Only for Xuelan to suddenly snap her eyes open and spin on the ground, kicking away her vectors and then jumping to her feet. Lucy blinked in surprising. "Playing possum, were you?" she asked.

Xuelan staved off the urge to wince at how much it hurt to move, and smirked. "Damn right, I was. And now that I can see where you're going to hit, you won't be able to stop me!" she declared, and rushed forward.

Lucy responded by sending her vectors at her. But now the busty Rook could see them, and sidestepped one before jumping over another. While she was in mid-air, she twisted around and dealt a harsh spinning kick right at one of the vectors, hitting it with enough force to send it away from her. The last one came up from below, but she leaned forward and dropped out of its reach, landing right in front of Lucy.

The startled look on her enemy's face was a pleasure to see, and Xuelan called "Eat this!" before executing a massive roundhouse kick with her entire leg covered in fire. With all four of her vectors overextended, she knew that Lucy would have no way to block this. The panicked expression she wore even confirmed it. Time slowed to a crawl, and Xuelan couldn't help but grin in triumph. This wasn't an easy fight, she'd admit, but she was a Rook in service to Riser Phenex! There was no way she'd fail!

Only for her leg to be stopped cold in mid-swing.

Xuelan's gleeful expression melted in one of shock. Right before her eyes, as if to defy everything, a _fifth_ vector had sprouted from Lucy's back and grabbed her leg, holding her in place with unyielding strength. Meanwhile, Lucy's look of panic faded, replaced by a look of triumph. "Fool," she said.

"But… how?" she asked, too shocked to even think of pulling back her leg.

Lucy grinned, her eye showing all the insanity and love of violence contained in her soul. "Now, when did I say that I only had four vectors?" she said tauntingly.

At that, Xuelan realized that she was right. Not once had Lucy confirmed or denied either the number of vectors she had or their range. She had just let them assume that for themselves. And now, she knew, that was going to be their downfall.

She was proven right when her other vectors shot past her, going beyond their previous two-meter range, and blocked attacks from Ravel and the recovered twins. Then several more vectors emerged from her back. She could count ten, twelve, fifteen, _twenty_ of them in total. One wrapped around the arms of each of them and hoisted them into the air, and she could not make them budge.

Lucy looked at all of them. "Like I said, it's a shame that I've been ordered to not kill you. It'd be as simple as moving an artery in each of your brains, and it would happen so fast that you'd die before you could be summoned away. So, be thankful," she said, before taking her remaining vectors and dealing back every hit they had tried to give her with interest.

Several minutes passed, and all that Ravel or any of the others knew was pain, as they were pummeled over and over again. Their pain also kept them from focusing energy to their eyes, so they could no longer see where each hit was coming from either. Lucy grinned at the sight and commanded her vectors to continue, glad to finally be dishing out some suffering.

Just as Ravel thought that it was never going to end, the barrage stopped. Abruptly, Lucy released them and they all dropped to the ground, landing rather painfully and aggravating their already considerable injuries.

Managing to crack one eye open, she saw Lucy holding one hand to her ear and seemed to be looking off into the distance. After a moment, she frowned and looked at them. "And here I was hoping to hurt you some more. Well, it looks like my part here is done. Farewell," she said, and walked away.

As she watched her opponent leave, Ravel could feel her pride being torn to shreds. The four of them—two Pawns, one Rook and one Bishop—had gone up against a single Pawn of their enemies, and had lost badly. And to put an icing on the cake, she'd didn't even finish them off. Just left them lying there, wallowing in their defeat and barely able to move.

Even if she could feel her injuries slowly fading due to her regenerative factor, Ravel knew that she might as well have been retired for all the good she would do now. So, when she felt the ground begin shaking and cracks begin spreading across the walls and the ceiling, she simply closed her eyes and waited.

Then the entire Gymnasium caved in, burying her and the others beneath a mountain of rubble.

* * *

The moment that Lucy walked out of the Gym, she saw the man that had come with her give a nod. She gave one back and said "Ready when you are."

The Rook smiled and crossed his arms. Rather than taking his cloak off like a regular person would, he simply flexed his muscles and the entire thing was torn to shreds, leaving him in just a set of blue pants and black boots and revealing appearance to the world. He was truly a mountain of a man, standing at over seven feet tall and possessing enough muscles to put most bodybuilders to shame.

His complexion was light and his head was bald save for a single lock of curly blond hair just above his forehead. His eyebrows also had no hair, and he sported a thick blonde handlebar mustache that accentuated his cleft chin. To go with all this were his blue eyes and unusually long eyelashes, contrasting with the rather menacing look the rest of his appearance gave him.

This man was none other than Alex Louis Armstrong, alchemist and Rook within Deiru's peerage.

Alex clapped his hands—which were covered by spiked metal gauntlets—together. "Alright, it's time to begin! Witness the alchemic power that has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" he roared, and slammed one fist into the ground.

Not a moment later, the ground burst apart and erupted in a series of spikes that formed in a line leading from him to the gymnasium. When the spikes reached the gym, the entire building began shaking and cracks began to appear along the walls. Then he punched the ground with his other fist, creating another wave of earth spikes that, once they reached the building, caused it to shake even further and the cracks to spread faster.

A few seconds later, the building groaned before collapsing inwards, having been destroyed at the foundations and force to collapse into nothing but a pile of debris.

Alex smiled. "And that is how you collapse a building, my dear Lucy!" he called, striking a pose that showed off his biceps. Interestingly enough, the action also caused a series of _sparkles_ to surround him.

Lucy had to refrain from rolling her eyes, and said "Whatever. Let's just get back." Then she walked away, and Alex struck a few more poses before catching up to her.

* * *

Riser stared out the window of the Main School Building, watching in shock as the entire Gym was forced to collapse while the two members of Deiru's peerage responsible walked away, completely unscathed. He had previously taken his opponent lightly, thinking that he was just another weak devil with a peerage full of weak Evil Pieces.

As if to mock his previous thoughts, Grayfia chose that moment to talk over the loudspeaker, calling " _Two of Riser-sama's_ _Pawns_ _,one of Riser-sama's_ _Rooks_ _and one Riser-sama's_ _Bishops_ _have been retired_."

But now, after seeing this? He needed to rethink his plans. Reaching to the communicator in his ear, he activated it and spoke up. "Yubelluna, fall back. Return to headquarters and stand guard in case anymore of this trash's peerage shows up," he ordered.

On the end of the line, he could he his Queen reply. " _Of course, Riser-sama. I'll be right back immedia- AAAH!_ " he heard, jumping to his feet when he heard her scream in pain. "What happened?! What's going on?!" he demanded. When all he got was static, his eyes widened.

"Yubelluna!" he yelled.

* * *

 **With Yubelluna…**

The Bomb Queen winced in pain as she managed to catch herself before she hit the ground. She didn't know what had happened. One moment she was hovering the air near the Gynasium, ready to unleash an explosion large enough to take both Lucy and Alex out of the game. Then Riser-sama came on the line, telling her to retreat.

She didn't have a problem with that, seeing as she would always do what Riser wished. But just as she had turned to begin heading back, she felt as if a freight train had smashed into her back and sent her downwards, barely able to stop herself from creating a crater in the shape of herself in the ground.

Yubelluna looked back up to where she had been, and saw no one there. But she did hear a voice, one that cackled loudly and said "Oh, that too good! The look on your face when I got you? Now _that_ was funny!"

She glared up at the sky. What was it with this peerage and the invisible attacks? "Show yourselves!" she called.

There was a moment of silence, and then her unseen foe chose to reveal himself. His appearance was somewhat humanoid, with a very thin build, gray-blue skin and spiky black hair. His lips were dark blue and exposed his pointed teeth, while his eyes with large and round with yellow sclera and red irises. To top it off, his limbs were unusually long and each finger ended in sharps nails.

Ryuk grinned and gave her a mock-salute, saying "You called? I am the Shinigami Ryuk, and Deiru's other Rook."

Before Yubelluna could reply, she heard another voice say "And I am his Knight." Then she saw Hannah descend from above behind her.

She looked between both of them, and frowned. Given how much that hit to her back was still hurting, she could guess that Ryuk was more than strong enough to stop her if she tried to escape. And even if she wasn't, there was no telling yet how fast this Hannah woman was. Therefore, if she wanted to obey Riser's order and return to his side, she'd need to get rid of them both to keep going.

With that in mind, she raised her staff and smiled at them, though said smile was anything but sweet. "I see. It's a pleasure to meet you both. And now, I'll be able to remember your names after I blow you to pieces," she said.

Hannah returned her smile and began reaching for her mouth. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," she said, before shoving her hand down her throat. Yubelluna reared back, repulsed at the sight, before shock accompanied her disgust when Hannah began pulling a _sword_ , of all things, out of her throat.

* * *

"Holy shit…" Issei muttered, staring at the screen. The other were similarly shocked, having seen just two members of Deiru's peerage annihilate an entire quarter of Riser's and also demolish an entire building with just two hits. Then, his other Rook hit Riser's Queen hard enough to nearly knock her out of the air.

Even the others were just as shocked. Kiba's shock grew when he saw Hannah pull that sword out of her, recognizing it immediately. "That sword! It's the blade _Lævateinn_!" he called.

Issei blinked, confused. "Huh? What's _Lævateinn_?" he asked. The others looked to Kiba as well, knowing that he was the most knowledgeable on famous swords out of any of them.

Continuing to watch the match, Kiba explained " _Lævateinn_ is an ancient and cursed sword, which is said to be 'cloaked in eternal darkness'. Whether or not that's true, I don't know. But I do know that it is a sword that can cut through the very soul of a devil, and any soul pierced by it can be destroyed completely. It's supposed to require a living person to act as its sheathe, but I guess now we know who that is."

The others looked at Hannah and her sword at that, while Rias performed a mental checklist in her head. A mutant, an alchemist, a Shinigami, and now the living sheathe of an ancient sword. Just the hell was Deiru going to reveal next?

* * *

Within the Underworld, Grayfia stood next to her husband, Sirzechs Lucifer, as they both watched the Rating Game with great interest. For Sirzechs, it was not only because of the fact that this Deiru Ouroboros was a new player on the scene, but also because the fate of his beloved Ria-tan was dependent on this fight. If Deiru lost, then his precious little sister's destiny was sealed.

Even so, he chuckled at seeing everything that had occurred so far. "Well, this certainly seems to have turned out better than we thought. Isn't that right, Father?" he asked, looking over at the two seats on his right. The one closer to him was occupied by a middle-aged looking man with bright blue eyes and long hair that was just as crimson as Sirzechs with a short stubble. This was Zeoticus Gremory, head of the House of Gremory and his and Rias's father.

Zeoticus nodded, smiling pleasantly. "Yes, this Deiru child is proving to be much more formidable than we initially expected. If what we saw from this first encounter repeats itself, he could very well win," he commented.

A grunt from next to him had him turning his gaze to the occupant of the other chair. He was a man of similar age to Zeoticus, though his hair was blonde, only reached his chin and spiked in the back. Also, his eyes were of a lighter shade of blue. This was Riser's father, Lord Phenex. Currently, he was glaring at the screen and looking none too pleased by the events unfolding. If it had been Rias holding her own against his son, that would be one thing, and he'd even commend her for it.

But for someone like to just show up out of the blue, challenge a member of _his_ family and have already made a spectacle of it in the first match? Not even someone as humble as him could swallow that pill right away. And so, he said "I'm withholding judgement until after we've seen everything. For all we know, this could be the extent of his strength. If so, then he still will lose to my son soon enough."

* * *

Deiru smirked as he sensed Hannah and Ryuk begin engaging Riser's Queen in the skies above. Now that she was being taken care of, he considered what to do with his remaining servants.

His thoughts were cut off when he heard Grayfia once more, calling " _Three of Riser-sama_ _Pawns_ _, one of Riser-sama's_ _Knights_ _and three of Deiru-sama's_ _Pawns_ _have been retired_."

He frowned at that. He had sent the Triplets off to patrol the surrounding forests and intercept any enemy who tried to come close, and looks like they had indeed found some enemies. He had thought that the three of them together would be enough to take on any of Riser's Pawns, but apparently adding a Knight to the match had evened it out.

Pity. And he was going to have those three switch to investigating the track field for anyone stationed there.

' _Well, that simply won't do_ ,' he thought, before looking down at the map. Between here and the Main Building was a lot of open space, which had been divided up by baseball, football and track fields. None of those places had a lot of cover, so any attempt to get to there would likely end in a brawl.

At that, he smirked. Well, if a brawl was needed, then a brawl would be given. And he knew two servants who perfect for combat in wide-open areas. Looking at one of them, he said "Izuna," and got her attention.

Izuna was a young girl with dark purple hair held back with a yellow headband and chestnut eyes, though the pupils were slit like a cat's. Also, rather than a normal set of ears, she possessed to large foxlike ears covered in fur with the same color as her hair, and sprouting from the small of her back was a fluffy tail, also of the same color. She wore a short white kimono that was tied shut with a large red bow, and over that was large beige robe with a red border. On her feet were a pair of sandals and white socks. She was another of Deiru's Pawns.

Pointing at the map, Deiru said "Now that we've leveled the Gym, our next target will be the baseball field. You and Patchouli are to head there and pick off any opponents that you find. If it turns out that you need any help, notify me and I'll send assistance," he said.

Patchouli closed her book and stood. "We will have this taken care of quickly," she said. Izuna nodded. "Yeah. We won't lose to those losers, thank you!" she declared.

As they left, Deiru stood. Now was what he considered to be his favorite part of the plan—the part where he took the fight directly to Riser. "Prepare yourself, Phenex. Now you face a dragon," he said, and gathered the rest of his peerage before moving out.

* * *

 **And that's that. Ordinally, I had planned to write the whole Rating Game in this one chapter, but that ended up not happening. Oh, well. Now I have inspiration for the next one! And here's the updated peerage so far:**

 **King: Deiru Ouroboros**

 **Queen: ?**

 **Bishop 1: Patchouli Knowledge (Touhou Project)**

 **Bishop 2: ?**

 **Knight 1: Hannah Annafellows (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Knight 2: Walter C. Dornez (Hellsing)**

 **Rook 1: Ryuk (Death Note)**

 **Rook 2: Alex Louis Armstrong (Full Metal Alchemist)**

 **Pawn 1: Canterbury (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 2: Thompson (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 3: Timber (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 4: Mittelt (DxD)**

 **Pawn 5: ?**

 **Pawn 6: ?**

 **Pawn 7: Izuna Hatsuse (No Game No Life)**

 **Pawn 8 (Mutated Pawn): Kaede/Lucy/Nyu (Elfen Lied)**

 **And before any of you start saying how neither Alex or Izuna died in their respective series, I did say that I would be breaking my only-dead-characters for a few peerage members. Those are two of them. And I already have the rest of the peerage figured out, so don't worry about that.**

 **Also, before we get to harems, I have an announcement in regards to the harem declarations from last chapter. I don't know how it got past me, but I ended up putting the** _ **wrong girl**_ **as the fourth member of Issei's harem. Somehow, I had written down that it would be Mittelt who would be the fourth girl for Issei, when I actually meant to put** _ **Ravel**_ **in that spot. Like I said, I don't know how I missed that, but it happened. So, yeah. Mittelt is** _ **not**_ **is Issei's harem. Ravel is.**

 **Also, considering that we just had a tie breaker between Rossweisse and Akeno last chapter, I deliberately did** _ **not**_ **count the votes for Rossweisse this time around. Will I count them for the fifth spot? Absolutely. But not this time.**

 **So, fourth member of Deiru's peerage had been voted to be…**

 **The Mascot Rook, Koneko Toujou!**

 **To be frank, I was honestly not expecting Koneko to make it in. A surprisingly number of people want Deiru to paired with Seekvaira Agares for some reason, enough that she was only two votes behind Koneko. She might make it in for the last spot, but who knows? That all depends on you guys and who you vote for in the review box.**

 **And the fifth and final member of Issei's harem will be…**

 **The Cheerful Witch, Le Fay Pendragon!**

 **So that's it. I expect the Rating Game will concluded next chapter, and following that is the fallout from these events and, after** _ **that**_ **, the start of Season 2. Stay tuned!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am?)**


	7. Chapter 7: Dragon vs Phoenix

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **And we are here! Rather than do homework like I should have, I spent all day today and yesterday working on this chapter just to get it out to you guys earlier than I had planned, and it looks like it paid off. Today we will have the conclusion to the Rating Game, more peerage debuts, and all the fun stuff in between. But first, replies!**

 **Gundam 09: Oh, don't you worry. Riser's fear will definitely still be there. And Deiru will go his own way eventually, but not before trying to carry out the task he was born for.**

 **AcclaimingTR, nightmaster000, Cf96, HelpfulNudge, desdelor97, Guest #4: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **King0fP0wers: Yeah, I thought that having Armstrong would be a good yet funny choice. I always considered him to be both.**

 **Hellspam: Lilith? Now that** _ **is**_ **a good question. I hadn't even thought about how he would react to Lilith until I read your review. But now… *grins* oh, the ideas.**

 **Charli J Lee: While I'm not so sure about something** _ **very**_ **surprising, I did like writing the scenes nonetheless.**

 **GodX and Fire Dragon King: Your votes have been tallied.**

 **Monekyman9835: And thus is there an update.**

 **Piemaster981: Kudos to you then, for correctly guessing so soon.**

 **Akuma-Heika: The reason I didn't have Ophis consider on gods was more of a choice on my part than anything else. I knew going in that I wanted Deiru's other parent to be a devil (so that he could have a peerage) but I also knew that I wanted that Devil to be one of strongest beings in existence. And since Sirzechs was on the Top 10, that made him a prime candidate in my mind.**

 **Guest #1: I actually just started watching Seven Deadly Sins last week. I'm only two episodes in, but I'm liking what I've seen so far.**

 **Guest #2: Ask and ye shall receive.**

 **Guest #3: You are right, up until this point Deiru wanted to keep a lower profile. It's one of the reasons why he keeps so much of his power restrained. But if he were to ever unleash all of his power and fight at full strength, you'd be right in your predictions.**

 **YeTianshi: I'm am planning on something smilar when the truth does come out. And yes, Mittelt can still use her light abilities.**

 **And EH-01: How indeed? Heh heh.**

 **And now, the show goes on!**

* * *

Chapter 7: Dragon vs Phoenix

Patchouli and Izuna stepped onto the baseball field, looking around. Although there appeared to be no initial signs of Riser or his peerage, that didn't mean that they weren't there. They were just hiding.

"How do you think we should go about this? They might be hiding in the trees, so should I use one my fire spells to burn them away? Or should I use a water spell to create a flood and flush them out?" Patchouli asked. She really had no problem with either.

Izuna response was to step forward and look towards the 'sky'. "Hey, you scaredy-ass chickens! Come out and fight, please!" she yelled.

Behind her, Patchouli's eyebrow twitched. Despite both her and Hannah's efforts, they had not yet been able to make Izuna understand that adding 'please' or 'thank you' to a sentence did not automatically make it polite. Nonetheless, the young girl's shouting had some effect, as they heard a woman's voice laughing. In a blur of speed, said woman appeared a short distance away from them.

She had light brown hair and green eyes, and was wearing silver armor that was a strange mix between a European knight's and a Japanese samurai's. There was a chestplate, gauntlets, greaves and hip plates and shoulder guards. She also had a headband that went across her forehead.

"My name is Karlamine, a Knight who has pledged to serve Riser-sama. To be honest, I'm not sure whether to be more concerned or insulted that a child has been sent to face me. But if you wish for a fight, far be from me to deny you!" the now-named Karlamine declared, drawing her broadsword from its place on her left hip.

Izuna looked back at Patchouli, who merely shrugged. Nodding, the dog-eared girl looked back at their foe. "My name is Izuna, a Pawn that Deiru recruited because he thought I was strong. I looking forward to fighting you, so thanks," she said, spreading her feet apart and crouching low. The nails on her hands abruptly sharped, and her tail swayed from side-to-side in anticipation.

Karlamine nodded. "You're welcome. Now, _allez_!" she called, and shot forward. Izuna also pounced, both of them swinging. Sparks flew as, to Karlamine's shock, Izuna to was able to block her blade with just her claws. She decided to up the ante up surrounding her sword in flames. Izuna let go of the sword but swung her leg beneath her guard.

Although Izuna was too short for the kick to have connected, her sandal did come off and fly right into Karlamine's stomach. Quickly, Karlamine pulled back and shot a crescent-shaped wave of fire at the girl, who ducked under it and charged at her. Avoiding the burning blade, she looked at the Knight's legs.

' _What was it that Deiru said? Oh yeah. Take out a_ _Knight's_ _ability to run and they're open_ ,' she thought. With that in mind, she lunged and tried to gain a hit on the unarmored section of Karlamine's right leg.

But apparently, the woman anticipated that, and countered with a rising knee that would have caught Izuna right in the chin if she hadn't stopped herself. But that left her open to getting her own stomach injury, this one from Karlamine's armored boot.

As Patchouli watched the two of them duke it out, she idly conjured a barrier behind her. A fireball the size of a buffalo slammed into it, pushing against the barrier for a moment before fizzling out. Turning around, she regarded the ones who would be her opponents.

The first one she noticed was the one responsible for the fireball, a young girl with brown hair and yellow eyes, who was wearing a formal kimono colored in layers of orange, purple and pink. Then there another woman with shorter hair and gray eyes, though half of her face was covered by a plain white mask. She was also wearing off-jeans and a jacket, exposing her midriff, cleavage and her right thigh. Last were the two cat-girls with green and red hair respectively, both dressed in skimpy sailor uniforms.

The kimono-clad girl smiled at her kindly, as if they weren't enemies. "I'm impressed that you could block my attack, though maybe I shouldn't be. After all, we're both Bishops. My name is Mihae and, although I'd prefer not to, Riser-sama has ordered me to fight you," she said, bowing.

Patchouli wondered whether or not to bow back, and decided to do so. However, when she did, she conjured another barrier when the busty girl with the mask tried to attack her from above. She grunted and moved back. "While I have the same orders as my comrade, I am nowhere nearly as unwilling. My name is Isbaela, and I will destroy you!" she declared, before going into a flurry of punches and kicks.

Each one bounded off Patchouli's barrier with no visible effect, though it did force the witch to keep her focus on maintaining it. That let the cat-girls, Ni and Li, come around from the side and try to attack her in her blind spot.

Patchouli sighed. "I just want this to be over so I can go back to my reading…" she muttered. Maintaining the barrier with one hand, she held the other out behind her. "Metal Sign: Silver Dragon," she said. A magic circle bearing the Ouroboros crest appeared over her hand, before firing a storm of pellets at the two Nekomata, each one made of pure silver. The twins nimbly dodged move through the storm, their youkai instincts helping cover what they lacked in speed.

However, just as they reached her, the circle expanded and a single massive projectile, one that was actually shaped like an Eastern dragon's head, was fired at them. The head gave off a roar that sounded like a knife on a chalkboard before it moved, biting down and Li's arm and sailing past with her in tow.

"Li!" Ni called, quickly abandoning the fight with Patchouli to chase after her sibling.

At this point, Patchouli was forced to move back as she felt the ground under her begin to shake. And just in time too, as the spot where she had been erupted in a column of flames from underground. Looking over at Mira, she could see that she was the one responsible, and so focused on her.

"Water Sign: Princess Undine," she said, conjuring a wall of water that surged forward, rising up and threatening to swallow Mihae whole. Except that she canceled out the spell by conjuring a wall of earth to rise from the ground. The water wave slammed into it and broke off to either side, leaving the Bishop unharmed.

"Don't turn your back on an opponent!" she heard Isabela yell. Turning around, she saw the Rook's fist just before in collided with her torso. Patchouli's eyes widened as she was sent back, hitting the wall that Mihae created and dropping her book. She ducked underneath a spinning kick from the Rook and grabbed the book, moving back.

"Earth Sign: Trilithon Shake," she read. The ground around her broke up into several massive boulders, which rose into the air before firing at Isabela. The busty woman withstood it, punching through each boulder as it came close and dodging the one's she couldn't break. By this time, Mihae had climbed atop her earth wall and held her hands above her head, muttering to herself.

Patchouli sensed the rise in magical energy and refocused on the Bishop, preparing to send out another wave of water. But Ni and Li, the latter of whom had finally pulled free from the silver dragon-head, attacked from behind and forced her to stop casting to dodge their attacks. They were yokai; she didn't want to test how skilled these two were at using their chakra.

With Izuna, she was still trying to score a hit on Karlamine's legs, while the Knight used her greater size and speed to block every attempt. While holding her sword with one hand, she drew her dagger from her right hip and coated it in fire. She swung at Izuna and managed to slice into the girl's robe. The cloth caught fire and quickly spread, forcing Izuna to stop and remove it or be burned.

That gave Karlamine the opening she needed to go on the offensive, and she rushed at Izuna with her full speed. The animal-girl quickly finished discarding her robe before dodging, though it was only her enhanced reflexes that were enabling her to keep up. Even so, she glared at Karlamine. "I really liked that robe, so could you stop turning to burn me, please?!" she yelled.

Karlamine shook her head firmly. "No. I am of House Phenex, and the fire and winds are ours to command! Now burn!" she yelled, swinging over and over with her sword and dagger at such speeds that she began leaving afterimages of herself.

Izuna grimaced and did her best to keep up. Even so, she was on the receiving end of several cuts and scrapes, each other also a burn from the fire on the blades. She resisted the urge to cry out in pain, and instead struck back. But Karlamine was too fast, and prevented every one of her hits from connecting.

Mihae frowned as she finished her chanting. "Forgive me for this, servants of Deiru Ouroboros," she said, before reaching out with both hands. A massive golden circle appeared in front of her, and she called "Wrath of Phenex!" before a massive bird, one made of pure fire and shaped like the bird of legend, burst from the circle and flew straight at Patchouli.

The Bishop saw this and quickly cast her own spell, creating a dome of water around her. But when the flame-birds collided with it, the water evaporated and Patchouli was wreathed in flames, causing her to scream in pain. Then it flew past her and crashed into Izuna as well, garnering a similar reaction as both girls were burnt alive.

* * *

Deiru's head snapped towards the direction of the baseball field, both sensing and hearing the agony of his servants. He frowned. While he knew that none of Riser's pieces would have the strength needed to actually kill anyone in this Rating Game, he still didn't want his own followers to suffer.

With that in mind, he reached up to his ear. Speaking to one of his remaining Pawns and his other Bishop, he said "Change of plans. Converge on the baseball field and assist Patchouli and Izuna with defeating the remainder of Riser's forces. I'll face the head bird alone," he ordered.

While his Bishop simply said " _Very well_ ," and did as ordered, his Pawn chuckled. " _Oh, really? And what do I get for helping out that brat and the bookworm?_ " she asked.

Deiru rolled his eyes, but knew that now was not the time for arguments. "Help them quickly and without failure, and I'll give you a whole arm," he stated.

" _Oooh, now_ that's _an offer I can't refuse. I'll be there shortly_ ," she said, and went silent. With that taken care of, Deiru resumed his march towards the main school building.

* * *

Mihae bit her lip as she tried to tune out the screams of Patchouli and Izuna. If there was one thing she could say she didn't like about being a Phenex, it would be how easy it was to hurt someone with their brand of magic. Fire brought light, warmth, safety… but too much of it and you had what was in front of her.

Patchouli had already doused herself with water to put on the fires on her clothes, but the outfit was still ruined beyond repair. What skin showed was an angry red and throbbed with pain at every movement. Izuna was even worse off, the previous loss of her robe meaning that the only thing covering her upper half had been her kimono, which was completely incinerated by the flames. All that was left was a set of bandages around her torso, and burns covered her arms and back.

Karlamine looked down at the fallen form of her enemy. "Such a shame. For someone so young, you're very skilled in combat. But now, it's time to end this," she said, raising her sword up high. "Farewell!" she called, and swing downwards.

Only to be blasted backwards by an explosion of pure energy.

The rest of Riser's peerage looked on in shock as Izuna stood, her whole body enveloped in a red glow as energy poured out of her. Her tail lengthened while her hair turned red, and a set of tribal tattoos appeared on her face. Her reserved expression was also gone, replaced by a grin filled with excitement… and violence.

"W-What is this?" Mihae asked, the pressure in the air combined with exhaustion from that last spell enough to send her to her knees.

Izuna whipped around and stared at her. "Thank you for asking! This is a rare ability exclusive to only some of the Werebeasts. We call it…" she said, before vanishing. Before anyone could react, she appeared in front of Mihae and thrust her claws forward, slashing the Bishop right across her throat and instantly dismissing her. Turning towards the rest, she finished "Blood Destruction!"

" _One of Riser-sama's_ _Bishops_ _has been retired_ ," Grayfia's voice resounded.

Then she rushed at Karlamine at speeds far surpassing what she had before, not even hampered by the pain from burns all over her body. That, or she was in too much of a frenzy to notice. Either way, the Knight quickly redrew her sword and blocked the attack. It wasn't easy, however, as this 'Blood Destruction' or whatever it was had also enhanced Izuna's strength as well, making it comparable to a Rook's.

Izuna attacked again and again in a flurry of moves, coming from every possible angle and trying her best to tear Karlamine to shreds. She still blocked every attack, but the force behind the kept her backpedaling. "I could use some help here!" she called.

Isabela nodded and prepared to assist. "Ni, Li, let's go!" she said. Only to hear nothing in reply.

Turning around, she could see both twins standing still with shocked looks on their faces. Slowly, blood began to spread from the center of the shirts, before a pair of red, clawed tentacles burst from their chests. Both twins screamed in pain before fading away, revealing who had defeated them.

It was another young woman, one with an hourglass figure, long purple hair and purple eyes with glasses that had red-frames on the lower half. She was wearing a rather innocent-looking white dress with blue sleeves and frilled shoulders, yellow leggings and pink shoes. What caught the most of Isabela's attention, however, were two things. The first was her eyes, which had red irises and black sclera with red veins surrounding it. And the fact that the two clawed tentacles, joined by four more, were coming from her back.

" _Two of Riser-sama's_ _Pawns_ _have been retired_ ," Grayfia's voice sounded off.

The young woman smiled sadistically, lifting one of the claws up to lick the blood off it. "Hmm…. I can honestly say that this is the first time I've ever tested Nekomata. Not bad, really," she said.

Isabela eyes narrowed with rage, and she resisted the impulse to charge right in. "You bitch… Just who the hell are you?" she demanded.

The woman blinked, and then smiled sweetly. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Rize Kamishiro. I'm here to kill you," she said.

* * *

" _Two of Riser-sama's_ _Pawns_ _have been retired_."

Yubellluna grimaced at that. With the loss of two more Pawns, the only people left were herself, Karlamine, Isabella, Mira and Riser. One Queen, one Knight, one Rook and one Pawn against almost an entire peerage. And she couldn't even do anything to help the others. She was having enough trouble on her own.

The woman, Hannah, had proven to be too fast for any of her explosions to cause any sufficient injuries, and Ryuk had simply tanked every hit while appearing to come out unscathed. Meanwhile, she was doing her best to avoid getting cut by _Lævateinn_ _._ She was no stranger to the legend of the sword's soul-cutting ability, and she was in no mood to find out whether or not that was true. Could Phenex Tears even mend damages to the soul?

She was forced out of her reverie by Hannah, who tried to separate her head from her shoulders with a horizontal swing. She ducked under it and create several spinning discs of energy around her. "Seeker Mine!" she called, and the discs flew at the maid and Shinigami.

Hannah moved back and let the mines follow her, while Ryuk simply crossed his arms over his chest. Three of the desks hit him and exploded, each one packing as much force as a frag grenade and creating a cloud of smoke.

However, when the smoke cleared, Ryuk was still there and grinning fiendishly, only the trails of soot on his outfit even showing that he had been hit at all. He cackled. "Really, haven't you gotten it by now? Even if I'm stabbed in the heart, shot in the head or blown up, Shinigami can't be injured. That's why I'm the perfect Rook!" he bragged.

Yubelluna frowned, but was not deterred. "Then shrug off this!" she declared and raised her staff into the air. Sensing danger, Ryuk looked to his right and saw a large amount of water condense into an orb. While another the other side, a similarly sized orb of a brown-ish metal appeared. The purple-haired devil smirked. "This is one of the most violent explosions I can create. Francium is one of the rarest and most unstable naturally occurring elements in the world. So, let me ask you: what do you think happens when you combine it with water?"

Ryuk's eyes widened, and he had just enough time to mutter "Aw, shit," before he was hit from either side by the orbs. The moment the francium came into contact with the water, it exploded with enough force to send Yubelluna flying backwards. The sky around was filled with light from the force of blast, briefly casting everything in stark white or darkest black.

When the explosion finally relented, Yubelluna looked to see if she had managed to injure the so-called "perfect" Rook. Only for him to be nowhere to be seen.

Yubelluna looked around quickly. There was every chance that Ryuk had turned himself invisible again to get a sneak attack on her, and she had no idea if that explosion even worked. But then she heard a voice behind her, and looked to see Hannah speeding towards her. Her maid outfit was torn in several places and looked to be burnt, likely from the mines she had sent after her.

Hannah went for a vertical slash and Yubelluna blocked it with her staff. Both of them pushed against each other, but when it came to physical strength, Yubelluna's enhancement as a Queen ensured her superiority. Slowly, Hannah was pushed back through the air, until Yubelluna shoved her away and focused on the air she was about to occupy.

But then Hannah flipped over and flew forward, the explosion going off behind her and increasing her momentum. She sailed right past Yubelluna, cutting her along the waist as she went. Yubelluna cried out and held a hand to the cut. But rather than bleed, the skin around the cut turned gray and cracked, as if the flesh around the wound was dead. And the pain from it was immense.

"Aah!" she yelled, both in pain and shock. If having her soul injured with just one cut could hurt this much, how could another feel? Such was her pain that she didn't even see Hannah attack again until it was too late, receiving a similar cut of her arm that added to her agony. However, the increased pain also fueled her adrenaline, and she was able to block the next series of attacks.

Dodge. Duck. Block. Counter. Block. Dodge. Cast another explosion.

Back and forth, the two women traded blows, all the while Yubelluna tried to keep an eye out for when Ryuk would show up again. But even with her increased speed, she wasn't able to block every attack from Hannah, just as the maid wasn't able to dodge every explosion at such close range.

But unlike Yubelluna, Hannah had a much higher pain tolerance (dying could help with that, she found) and was able to keep going even as the purplette began to tire. Over and over again, the lavender-haired maid struck, each time dealing another cut that would turn grey and start to rot.

Eventually, the pain grew to be too much, and Yubelluna created another explosion right in front of Hannah while also flying back. The maid moved around the blast, but by then Yubelluna had reached inside her cleavage for her vial of Phenex Tears. Smirking at Hannah, she said "Ready to keep going?" and popped the cap off the vial.

However, just as she did, she heard the voice of Ryuk behind her, who yelled "Surprise!"

She looked back to in time to see and feel him hit her with a double hammer fist, almost snapping her spine in two as she was sent flying… into the reach of Hannah.

Almost in slow motion, she watched as Hannah thrust forward with _Lævateinn_ and shattered the bottle of Phenex Tears, before she kept going and impaled Yubelluna through the chest. She went even farther along the blade then she would have before thanks to her forward momentum, bringing her face only inches away from Hannah's.

She could see no pity or remorse in the maid's eyes. Rather, there was only satisfaction at having dealt the finishing blow. Numbly, she looked down at the sword in her chest, wondering what it would feel like to have her soul destroyed. Could she even come back from that?

Yubelluna waited for the pain in her soul to multiply. It was done. Without Mihae, the peerage had no healer, and even if she was here these two wouldn't let her escape long enough to be healed… if she could be.

But as the seconds passed, her pain did not increase. Surprised, she looked down at _Lævateinn_ and saw that it was, in fact, shimmering with light. Hannah saw this to, and hummed. "Now that's interesting. It seems that coming into contact with the Phenex Tears actually does prevent _Lævateinn_ _f_ rom destroying your soul. Consider yourself lucky," she said.

And then, just as quickly as the fight had begun, it ended when Hannah yanked her blade back out and stabbed Yubelluna through the heart with it.

* * *

 _"_ _Riser-sama's_ _Queen __has been retired_ ," Grayfia declared.

Mira swore under her breath. Just great. Now it was down to Riser-sama, Karlamine, Isabella, and herself. She had been ordered to hide inside the forest on the edge of the baseball field, since her status as the weakest of the peerage meant that she would be of little help against skilled opponents like these.

But she couldn't stay still for any longer! They were supposed to be unstoppable, the immortal birds that could never fall. Yet this Deiru and his peerage were completely thrashing them! It mads her blood boil.

And now she was witness to the sight of Isabella trying to land a solid hit on Rize while the girl sent her weird tentacle things—her "kagune" as Rize called them—at the Rook in hopes of either slicing or skewering her. Luckily, Isabella was faster and more agile than your average Rook, and had been able to avoid them all so far. But they did keep her at a distance, meaning that she was unable to attack.

'This is my chance. I'll attack while her back is facing me, so she'll have no way to tell I'm coming. Then, once I've distracted her, Isabella can get close and smash her face in!' she thought, gripping her staff and waiting for the right opportunity.

Rize sent two of her kagune to attack Isabella, and she caught them before trying to crush them with her strength. The ends of them were torn off and blood spurted from the ends, but she had no chance to celebrate as she dodged three more. And worse, she could see the two she had just injured slowly regenerating, blood and flesh re-growing as if had never been injured. So, this Rize had a healing factor too. Wonderful. Just freaking wonderful.

On the other side of the field, Karlamine had regained the upper hand even with Izuna's power burst. The animal-girl's frenzied state made her shrug off most pain, even with burns almost completely covering her body, but long-term use of Blood Destruction was just as harmful to its user as their enemies.

The power derived its name from the fact that, in exchange for such an increase in power, it literally destroyed the users blood through uncontrollable blood flow, resulting in muscle tears, nerve damage, bone fractures and even heart failure.

All of that summed together, and even Izuna was beginning to be weighed down by the extent of her injuries and the strain placed on her body. Which Karlamine was able to capitalize on. When a sudden loss of feeling in her hand caused a swipe of Izuna's claws to miss, the brunette was quick to kick her in her unguarded chest and send her skidding back.

When she tried to charge back in, the muscles in her legs gave out and she fell to the ground. But rather than give in, she managed to rise to her feet in time to catch Karlamine's sword between her palms, preventing it from cutting her. "Nice try, but I won't lose here, please!" she called.

"Is that so? Then enjoy burning!" Kalamine yelled, and covered her blade in fire once again. The flames burns Izuna's hands even further, and the girl howled in pain. Holding the sword in one hand, Karlamine swung her dagger with the other, cutting Izuna along her stomach. The girl let go of the sword to reflexively cover her wound, but that let Karlamine sweep her legs out from under her.

Izuna landed on her back and tried to get up, but her limbs weren't responding any further. When Karlamine stood over her, exhausted but still victorious, she growled, and gave the brunette her best death glare. Karlamine grunted. "You fought well, especially for one so young and inexperienced. I shall remember your name, Izuna Hatsuse," she declared, and raised her sword high just as she did before.

She should have learned that something was going to happen from the first time.

Just as Karlamine raised her sword, her danger instincts went off, and she spun around just in time to block an arrow from had been fired from within the trees. The arrow was glowing with pink _holy_ energy, enough to send her flying over Izuna and barely landing on her feet.

The one who fired the arrow emerged from the trees, revealing that they too, were a young woman. She was very beautiful, with flawless alabaster skin and long black hair that fell past her slim waist, tied with a ribbon into a loose ponytail, and brown eyes. She was wearing the traditional dress of a Shinto priestess, with a white kimono and kosode along with a red hamaka and obi. On her feet were white socks and straw sandals, and hanging from her back was quiver full of more arrows.

Not even waiting for this newcomer to introduce herself, Karlamine called "I will not fall here!" and charged with both her sword and dagger wreathed in flames.

In response, the priestess raised her hand and waited for her to come close. Once the Knight was only feet from her, she called "Begone."

A blast of pure holy energy, matching even some of the highest exorcists in power, exploded from her palm and washed over Karlamine like a flood, bathing her in its light. As a Devil, even the slightest amount of holy light was toxic to her. With that much of it, she barely in succeeded in retiring before she could be disintegrated.

Incidentally, the blast was also wide enough to catch Mira as well, who had just begun to emerge from the forest. And Isabella, distracted by the sudden light show, was defeated when Rize stabbed her in the arms, legs and both lungs with her kagune.

" _Riser-sama's_ _Knight_ _,_ _Rook_ _and_ _Pawn_ _have been retired_."

With the fight over, the priestess continued walking forward and picked up Izuna, carrying her over to the still-injured form of Patchouli. Once she was within sight of the witch, said witch tried to speak. "Kikyo, it's you."

Kikyo shook her head, and laid Izuna down next to her. "Try not to speak. I've had experience treating burns even worse than these, and moving is not the wisest thing to do right now," she instructed kindly, but firmly.

Patchouli didn't try to argue and merely nodded. Izuna, however, still tried to speak. "Please… did we win?" she asked.

Rize sighed. "It would seem so. A pity too; I sorely wanted to test as to whether being a Phenex would give that girl's flesh any extra flavor," she said wistfully.

Ignoring the female ghoul, Kikyo set about slowly healing everyone's injuries. "Well, there is still one fight remaining. Deiru and Riser have yet to fight face-to-face." Just then, however, they felt a spike in power, and looked over to the Main School Building. "Or maybe they've just started."

* * *

Deiru pushed open the door to the building and looked around. He didn't see any more of Riser's servants—had they all been defeated? —but it didn't hurt to check. Closing the door behind him, he called out "Riser, I know you're there. It's just you and me now; come out of hiding and face me."

When he received no response, he began to walk in the direction of the Student Council Room. However, he had only taken a few steps when he looked up and saw a fireball flying right towards him.

Deiru quickly rolled out of way, letting the fireball pass right by him and melt the section of the floor where he had stood. He looked up and saw Riser standing hovering above the second-floor balcony, his flame-wings already out and flapping to keep him in the air. He did not look pleased.

 **Begin Music: Burn It All by thesecession**

Riser glared down at the insolent brat in front of him, wishing that he could in fact shoot fire from his eyes. "You… You have made a mockery of me and my peerage. We are supposed to be undefeatable. The only times I ever lost a fight was when I _let_ my opponent win, and even then, I could have crushed them like an insect if I wanted! But then you come along, and try to make us look like fools! You will burn this!" he said, getting louder and louder untill he was yelling at the end.

Deiru merely looked up at the blonde, thoroughly unimpressed with his tirade. "If your forces are so weak compared to mine that you think they look like fools, the issue lies with one who leads them. That is to say, you," he stated.

Riser seethed with anger at that, and conjured two more fireballs before throwing them both at Deiru. He released his devil wings and took to the air, nimbly dodging both fireballs and letting them hit the interior of the building somewhere behind them. As he hovered in the air, Deiru did a quick estimate. Riser deserved his rank as a High-Class Devil, though he was still a far cry from anything near Ultimate. But factor in that immortality of his, and taking him down would be a lot more tiresome than it would normally be.

' _All of that put together, I think I'll need to go at about 3. Maybe 4 if I really feel like showing off_ ,' he thought, before crossing his arms over his chest. " **Power Restriction Release: Level 3** ," he intoned. At that, the familiar image of a dragon biting its own tail appeared on the palms of both hands and the back of his left hand. All three tattoos glowed before fading away, and Deiru's body was enveloped in an aura of golden light.

Looking around, he asked "Since we both want to make a show of this, why don't we take this fight outside? More room to move around there." Riser growled, but nodded in agreement. Both devils turned and flew in opposite directions, bursting through a pair of windows and flying up above the building.

Deiru looked at Riser, his eyes showing a sudden and unusual amount of seriousness. "It's been a long time since I was able to fight someone who could truly excite me. Riser, when we fight, I want to feel the sensation of my blood pulsing, my heart beating, my mind racing as we're locked in combat. Do not disappoint me," Deiru said.

Riser growled. "Then get ready, trash, because here I come!" the Phenex yelled.

With a burst of flames, he shot forward towards Deiru, a burning fist raised high. Deiru flew around the attack and let Riser pass by him. "You know there is something that always fascinated me about Devil magic. To use it, one must have the power of imagination, and then the power to create. But so long as those two requirements are fulfilled, there are few, if any, bounds on what an individual can use Devil magic to create and do. For example…" he said, and held out his hand.

The Ouroboros magic circle appeared over it, before releasing a barrage of magical missiles, each one composed of pure golden energy. Riser turned around and created a wave of fire to intercept the missiles, causing both attacks to cancel each other out in a cloud of smoke. Deiru emerged from that smoke, flying towards Riser with a pair of katana-shaped energy constructs in his hands.

He swung at Riser in a X, and he dodged the attack, moving around him for an attack from above. Only for Deiru to whip around and will both swords to morph into spiked whips, wrapping around Riser's neck and biting into his flesh. Deiru pulled and the Phenex's head was severed, falling to the ground below. Riser acted as it hadn't even happened though, grabbing the whips and using them to pull Deiru towards him.

Deiru quickly retracted the whips and turned them into a pair of brass knuckles, before he punched Riser repeatedly in the chest. Riser responded by grabbing his shoulders and kneeing him in the stomach, momentarily knocking the wind out of Deiru. His head now fully reformed, Riser moved back before slamming his forehead into Deiru, further dazing him before following it up with a kick to the chest.

Deiru flew back and regathered his bearings, dodging a trio of fireballs from Riser and conjuring another pair of energy-whips. Riser flew in and unleashed a haymaker, but Deiru ducked and weaved through the blows before swinging both whips. They both hit and left several cuts along Riser's chest and sides, but the wounds healed almost as quickly as they were formed.

"Don't you see how useless it is? With my power, all your attempts to harm me are in vain!" Riser called, creating a disc of fire and throwing it at him. Deiru ducked under it and shifted his whips into spheres. He launched them at Riser, who avoided one but not the other. It exploded in a blast that took away half of Riser's head and his right arm… and still the wounds healed.

"You may be able to heal yourself, but I have yet to be entertained. Come on, fight!" he said, conjuring a pair of energy hammers and using them to fly forward and repeatedly hit Riser. Each blow cracked bones and broke skin, but each injury only continued to be healed. Laughing, Riser punched Deiru in the face with a right hook and sent him back, before throwing more sheets of fire at him.

Deiru dodged them and tried to come up with a plan. From the looks of it, regenerating entire limbs took Riser slightly longer than other injuries, such as when he had decapitated him. So, if he dealt enough damage then, theoretically, he could hurt Riser faster than he could be healed. That might be the key to slowing him down.

After all, it wasn't as if he had a cross and holy water on hand. Even Issei could win if he had that.

Refocusing, Deiru shifted his energy-hammers into a volley of throwing stars, and threw them one after another at Riser. The blonde responded by dodging most of them and simply tanking the ones he couldn't but the move itself was mostly a cover. Channeling a larger amount of energy, the glow around his arms grew and he flew forward. Quickly, he grabbed Riser by the arm and shoulder and, with a shout, pulled the arm from its socket.

Riser cried out in pain from the unexpected move, and tried to blast Deiru with a close-range fireball. He leaned back and let the attack pass over him, before grabbing Riser's other arm and repeating the action.

With both arms gone, Riser resorted to trying to kick Deiru, but he flew out of range and spread his arms out. Several large chakrams manifested in the air around him, before shooting at Riser. He flew upwards to avoid the initial wave, but Deiru created several more and had them strike from several angles. Two of them cut him and left deep gouges in his chest and stomach, while one that hit him on the leg cut deep into the flesh, remaining there.

"Damn you!" Riser yelled, using his regenerated arms to pull the chakram from his leg. Seeing an opportunity, Deiru snapped his fingers and willed the chakram to explode. It did, pushing Riser back and mangling his hand in the process.

That, apparently, was the last straw. Riser concentrated and all his injuries were suddenly enveloped in flame, instantly healing. The fire composing his wings also grew, and Deiru could feel Riser's power output increasing.

' _So, he's stopped holding back, huh? Good. I want this fight to be exciting,_ ' Deiru thought, preparing to counterattack. But then Riser rocketed forward at twice his previous speed, catching Deiru off-guard before he could react. He grabbed the young dragon by the collar and slugged him in the face with a flaming punch, burning and bruising him at the same time.

He followed it up with another knee to the stomach, forcing Deiru to bending over and be exposed for a hammer fist to the back of the head. Then Riser turned and threw him away, throwing more waves of fire.

Deiru righted himself in mid-air and created a shield around himself, letting the flames hit the shield and burn out. As they did, he could feel his pulse begin to rise, and raised both eyebrows. Was it possible? Was Riser… actually giving him a fight?

Grinning, Deiru lowered the shield and flew forward, letting his energy coat his fists and he swung at Riser with an uppercut. The Phenex leaned back to avoid it and countered with a jab, which Deiru blocked with his forearm. The flames on Riser's hand, however, set the jacket of Deiru's uniform on fire. Deiru quickly ripped the jacket off and threw it as Riser, who simply incinerated it. Deiru went for a palm heel strike and, when Riser caught his arm, fired several energy needles from his hand.

Riser simply took the needles and let himself heal, before trading blows again. As they continued, Deiru could feel himself beginning to smile. That smile grew with each move of his that was block or countered. "Yes, this is what I was looking for. A fight that can actually make me put in effort. Keep going, Riser! Fight harder!" he said.

But the encouragement only served to further enrage Riser, who glared at him. "Just shut up and die already!" he yelled. Using one of the moves taught to him by Sairaorg Bael, he hit Deiru with his palms on either side of his head. The move knocked Deiru off-balance, and let Riser kick him in the chin, forcing his head upward and exposing his neck. Which Riser punched straight at, blocking off Deiru's breathing and nearly fracturing his hyoid bone.

 **End Music**

Deiru reached for his neck on reflex, but Riser grabbed him by the shoulder and headbutted him again, keeping Deiru dazed. Then he flew around Deiru and grabbed him by the wings. He pulled Deiru towards him while kicking outwards, hitting him in the spine with both feet and electing a loud _crack_. Finally, he flew above him and delivered an axe kick that sent Deiru hurtling towards the ground, where he crashed.

But Riser wasn't done yet. Covering his entire body in fire, Riser, launched himself downwards. "And STAY DOWN!" he yelled, dive-bombing into Deiru with an explosion of fire and dust.

For a few moments, all was silent, until the dust cleared and Riser climbed out of crater he had created. Looking back towards Deiru, he could see that the young man was unmoving, likely having been knocked unconscious by that last attack. Smirking, he began walking away to regroup with his peerage and celebrate his victory.

Only for Grayfia to never declare his victory.

Riser paused, confused. Did she call the match and he simply hadn't heard her? After a few more moments, however, it became clear that this was not the case. Looking towards the sky, Riser called "You can say it's over now. There's no chance of him getting up from that."

Another moment of silence, and then Grayfia said " _Deiru Ouroboros appears to be retired. As such, Riser Phenex is the winner of-_ "

" **Power Restriction Release: Level 4**."

Grayfia stopped at that, and Riser whirled around in shock. He could feel Deiru's strength suddenly spike, going past what is was before and even beyond his own. Deiru himself was rising from the crater, his uniform in tatters and burns covering his body. But even as he stood, Riser could see those injuries healing. Skin that was charred and blackened simply cracked and fell off, new skin stitching itself together. Broken bones snapped back into place, and all other injuries repaired themselves.

Then Deiru turned to face him, and he could see that the devil was grinning widely, his teeth having sharpened into fangs and his pupils turned to slits.

"Riser… thank you. I asked you to not disappoint me, and you didn't. Instead, you managed to make me push myself farther than I have in a long time. And for that, I am grateful," he said.

Riser didn't say anything in response, too shocked at seeing Deiru having a regenerative factor to say anything. Deiru stepped closer. "Of course, you realize what this means, right? Now that you've managed to push me this far, I want to fight you even more. And since you were so found of hitting me in the stomach…"

He took another step forward… and vanished. Riser had just enough time to blink before Deiru appeared in front of him, a fist already buried in his stomach. Riser coughed as all the wind in him was knocked out in one blow, before Deiru continued with the movement and sent Riser flying upwards. He followed and delivered a solid chop to the blonde's neck and a punch to his solar plexus simultaneously.

Riser choked on his own spit from the first of the two, while the second sent him back through the air. Deiru pursued him and grabbed him by the arms. "Come on, Riser! You were able to make me start enjoying myself! Don't hold out on me now!" he called, before letting go of him only to conjure an energy spear and stabbed him through the chest with it.

Deiru spun around threw both the spear and Riser, before willing the spear to explode. Due to part of the spear being inside Riser when it went off, the damage was far worse than before, enough that it created a large and gaping hole where Riser's chest had been. The hole began to close, but Deiru flew towards Riser and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him back hard enough to pull out several strands.

"I said fight, damn it! I'm finally worked up, so show me a fight!" he said, punching Riser in the jaw before grabbing his right leg and breaking it at the knee. Riser cried out in pain, and Deiru threw him back to the ground.

The Phenex barely managed to regain his balance before landing, and looked at Deiru. "This kind of power… there's no way you should have it. Just what the hell are you!?" he yelled.

Deiru smirked, landing on his feet. "What I am is something I'm not telling you, but I will say this. Compared to me, you are not a Phenex, or even a peacock. All you are… is weak," he declared.

Riser's eyes widened, before he roared in rage and held his hands above his head. A massive fireball began forming, one that grew in size and heat with each passing second. "I will show you who's weak. I am from the House of Phenex! I will incinerate you!" he yelled.

Deiru looked at the fireball, which has surpassed the size of a horse was getting larger. "Yes, that's it, Riser! Take all your anger, all your emotions, and channel them all to attack me! FIGHT!" he said.

Riser did just that, and put every last ounce of strength he possessed into the fireball. At this point, it was white-hot and had reached the size of an entire two-story house. Deiru, in response, simply raised his hands and beckoned him closer with a wave of his hand. With one last yell or rage, Riser threw the fireball at Deiru and watched it sail forward.

The fireball hit Deiru and detonated in blast that left Riser himself blinded from the light it unleased. The shockwave nearly deafened him and those watching, while the wind from the blast forced Riser to take a step back or be knocked over.

The explosion and the flames composing it lasted for almost an entire minute. When it finally did burn out, all that was left was a scorched half-circle in the ground with steaks of soot scattered around it. Riser panted, completely drained, but pleased all the same. Even with everything that Deiru had thrown at him, he still emerged victorious. Just as he always did.

"Is that it?"

Riser's eyes went huge. Slowly, almost afraid of what he would see, he turned around.

 **Begin Music: Kuroshitsuji: Nigram Clavem**

Standing there was Deiru, who now was completely without a shirt and the lower half of his pants had been burnt away. But that wasn't the bad part. The bad part was that Deiru's left arm was literally _gone_ , only a charred half-stump where it had been before, the left half of his face appeared to have melted, and the rest of his body was similar scorched.

Even so, Deiru still glared at Riser, who previous joy seemingly gone. "I asked you to give me a fight, Riser. You pushed me far enough that I was forced to release more of my power. But the moment I do, all you can do is stand there and be my punching bag, not even able to keep up," he said, his flesh already repairing itself and his arm growing back.

"So, I give you a free shot at me. A chance to take everything you have and unleash it all in one blow, one attack. But when I do, when I've provoked you into a righteous fury and tell you to give me everything you have… _this_ is what you provide me?!" Deiru demanded, waving at his now mostly-healed form.

"I am more than just angry, Riser. I am disappointed. And for disappointing me…" Deiru reached forward and, with his newly grown hand, grabbed Riser by the throat. "…I'm going to end this. Now."

Channeling energy into his hand, Deiru released a point-blank blast of energy strong enough to blow Riser's head off. Using his magic to enhance his strength, he punched Riser in the chest with the strength necessary to shatter his ribcage and send him hurtling back into the wall of the Main School Building. The Phenex went _through_ the wall and landed on his back, head healed, but Deiru was already there.

Picking Riser up by the hair, he slammed him down into the stone face-first, bashing his head against the floor over and over. Each time, even as the ground turned red, Riser's face healed almost instantly.

Deiru snarled. "While it may have once been interesting, your immortality is quickly becoming annoying. Just surrender, and we can be done with this already!" he said. When Riser gave no response, he growled and created an energy-axe, which he used to sever the Phenex's legs. Riser did cry out at that, and Deiru did the same thing to his arms, then his wings. When the only thing Riser had that wasn't regenerating was his head and torso, he picked up Riser by the face and pulled him in close.

"I'm going to ask one time, Riser. If you give me the wrong answer, I will continue to punish you until you give me the right one. So, I'll ask you once: Do. You. Submit?" he asked.

By this point, Riser was nearly delirious from shock, pain and the feeling of having his pride torn asunder. And now, he was face-to-face with those glowing, mismatched eyes of the onhe resposiblke. They reminded him… or a dragon.

And so, he did the only thing he could in his barely sensate state. He gave in. "Yes! Yes! I fold, I surrender, I give up, I submit, damn it! Just stop hurting me!" he screamed.

Deiru nodded, and dropped Riser back to the ground. Above them, Grayfia's voice rang out one last time. " _Riser-sama's resignation is recognized. Deiru-sama is hereby declared the winner of the Rating Game_ ," she said.

With that, their surroundings turned white.

* * *

 **And that's an end to this chapter. Almost three-thousand words longer than I intended, but hey, that happens. Now the Rating Game is over, Deiru has won, and we all got a glimpse at just what happens when that calm and controlled attitude of his is taken away. Hope you all enjoyed it. And since there were other introductions this chapter, here is the peerage as of now:**

 **King: Deiru Ouroboros**

 **Queen: ? ? ?**

 **Bishop 1: Patchouli Knowledge (Touhou Project)**

 **Bishop 2: Kikyo (Inuyasha)**

 **Knight 1: Hannah Annafellows (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Knight 2: Walter C. Dornez (Hellsing)**

 **Rook 1: Ryuk (Death Note)**

 **Rook 2: Alex Louis Armstrong (Full Metal Alchemist)**

 **Pawn 1: Canterbury (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 2: Thompson (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 3: Timber (Kuroshitsuji)**

 **Pawn 4: Mittelt (DxD)**

 **Pawn 5: ? ? ?**

 **Pawn 6: Rize Kamishiro (Tokyo Ghoul)**

 **Pawn 7: Izuna Hatsuse (No Game No Life)**

 **Pawn 8 (Mutated Pawn): Kaede/Lucy/Nyu (Elfen Lied)**

 **I had originally intended to introduce all but the** **Queen** **this chapter, but that turned to not happen. So, I'll introduce the last** **Pawn** **next chapter. The** **Queen** **, however, is something I'm keeping hidden until we get to the events of the Kuoh Treaty (the Faction Meeting, as it might otherwise be known). However, I will be giving out a total of 4 hints as to who the** **Queen** **is, and if anyone guesses right, I'll contact you via PM to let them know. So, here you go:**

 **Hint 1: Deiru's** **Queen** **is female.**

 **Hint 2: Deiru's** **Queen** **is a character who has died.**

 **Hint 3: Deiru's** **Queen** **is not now, nor has she ever been, human.**

 **Hint 4: Rather than come from a popular anime/TV series/etc. Deiru's** **Queen** **is a character from a popular** _ **trading card game**_ **. Which one, I will not say, but I will say that is one of most successful TCG in the world, and has been for over a decade.**

 **And, lastly, we have the harems. Issei's harems was concluded last chapter, so this chapter will have just the final member of Deiru's harem. And since I know at least one person's going to ask, I** _ **may**_ **(emphasis on the "may") increase it from being a max of five girls later on in the story, but that is a really big "may" and will depend both on how the story develops and I feel up to doing it. Moving along, the voted member of Deiru's harem has been voted to be…**

 **The 100-Yen Shop Valkyrie, Rossweisse!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku (I'm just kidding… or am I?).**


	8. Chapter 8: A New Assignment

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Heeeeere's Johnny! And by Johnny, I mean me. Good to see you guys again, and I thank you for waiting this long. My muse is a fickle bitch often times, and this time around she was being even more fickle than usual. But nonetheless, I finally was able to write down this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it. But first, replies!**

 **Gundam 09: Well, ye net not wait any longer.**

 **Hellspam: Ddraig does not yet know that Deiru is part-dragon, as he has been keep those powers sealed. But when he stops doing so, yes, he will able to identify him. Ad for Vali, you're not wrong.**

 **Ushiromiya: The idea of proxies did come to at one point in time, but since this is Deiru's first mission for the Khaos Brigade, I figured it would be better if he actually tried it himself. Though I do like your idea about trying to recruit actual Gods to the Khaos Brigade. I might do something like that in the future.**

 **Pedro52, HelpfulNudge, Cf96, Darth56 and : Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Davycrockett100: Nice guess, but no, it's not Reinforce.**

 **GodX: While Sona will not being the harem for this DxD story, I hope the singular pairing with Sona in my other one doe satisfy you.**

 **RangerElk76: Really? An entire hour? Damn, I must have made it harder than I thought. Either way, thank you for trying.**

 **1C: I was thinking the same thing. Writing five working relationships with the level of depth I want to give them will be hard enough; adding more girls would just propagate that.**

 **Deathslayer1996: I will probably do something like that in future.**

 **Neonwolf423: We already discussed your guess via PM. But don't stop trying; you were doing good.**

 **Neonlyphe: No, it's not Tiamat. Nor did I plan on having her be his familiar, though I am considering the idea now.**

 **Blazeb79: I really just felt like giving Issei a harem since he already had one in canon and, although my version of his harem is different from the canon version, I didn't see any reason for him to not have one.**

 **Kuroyasha Shinozaki: Well, that is your opinion, and your choice whether to read to not. I'm not going to force you.**

 **JumpingToaster: Hmm, you do make a good point. And I am keeping a list of the number of people who voted for a Rias/Deiru pairing to happen versus those who voted for it to not happen. If the 'not happen' section ends up becoming greater, I will probably change the pairing.**

 **And to all those who asked whether or Deiru's** **Queen** **is a character from Yu-Gi-Oh, I will say this: No, she is not from Yu-Gi-Oh.**

 **And now, let us begin!**

* * *

Chapter 8: A New Assignment

When Deiru returned to the main room of the Occult Research Club, the first thing he became aware of was a blur of red shooting towards him. On reflex, he began to draw on his powers, but stopped when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and someone try to bury their head into his chest.

"Thank you… Thank you!"

Deiru blinked and looked down. The blur was none other than Rias, who was currently hugging him as if her life depended on it. Behind her, the rest of her peerage was smiling, happy to see Rias finally get what she had wanted for so long. Even if Issei was simultaneously crying about the Ouroboros heir being the one to get hugged.

He had to fight to keep himself from grinning as well. The Rating Game had turned out to be more fun than he had thought, even if he had let himself get carried away during the fight. In truth, he hadn't planned on releasing any more of his power than Level 3. The higher the level of his power he released, the less often he needed to do so, and thus the less practice he had in controlling himself at those upper levels.

Well, at least Riser hadn't pushed him to going to Level 5 or above. Rating Game or not, Deiru knew himself well enough to believe that he would have killed Riser if he had. But, that neither here nor there.

Refocusing on the present, Deiru hugged Rias back and slowly ran one hand through her hair, an act he had been told comforted people. After a few moments, it seemed to work, as Rias's cries died down and were replaced by ragged breathing. At that point, he asked "Better now?"

Rias nodded and pulled back, smiling up at him brightly. "You did what I was afraid I couldn't. You defeated Riser and got me out of that marriage contract. I can't thank you enough," she said, even going so far as to formally bow to him.

Deiru chuckled. "There's no need to bow to me, Rias. After all, I'm still a member of the ORC. We have to look after each other, right?" he pointed out.

Rias stared at him in surprise for a moment, and then her smile grew even wider. She began to nod when she noticed that Deiru's peerage was behind him. Blinking, she said "Oh, I don't think your peerage and mine have had a proper introduction."

Looking behind him, Deiru nodded. "Indeed we haven't. In that case, I'll go first," he said. Moving to stand beside his servants, he waved his hand.

"Allow to first introduce my two Bishops, Kikyo and Patchouli Knowledge." The two women stepped closer, though Patchouli was moving gingerly due to her still-healing burns, and Kikyo was carrying Izuna in her arms. "Patchouli is a witch who is skilled in several forms of elemental magic, while Kikyo is a former Shinto priestess with skills is archery, healing and purification, amongst other things."

The two of them backed away, and the next two came forward. "These are my Knights. Hannah Annafellows is my personal maid and, as you saw during the match, the current sheathe for _Lævateinn_. Walter Dornez is the oldest of my servants, and has been in my service for the second-longest time out of all of them. He's also a vampire."

Issei jumped. "Whoa, a real vampire. As in, blood-sucking, garlic-fearing, stab-with-piece of wood vampire?" he blurted out.

Rias stiffened, aware that vampires could have a great deal of pride, and that what her Pawn just said could be considered extremely rude. She looked towards Walter to see if he had been offended.

However, if the amused smile he had was anything to go by, he wasn't offended at all. "While the garlic and the wooden stake would work on lesser vampires, young man, they don't have much effect on someone like me. Though you are right about the blood sucking," he said, before grinning in such a way as to show off his sharpened teeth.

Issei paled at the obvious implication and hid behind Asia. Or tried to, really, as Asia was currently trying to hide behind him.

Deiru fought keep his laughter inside, and began to introduce the next two. Before he could even start, however, Alex stepped forward and, again, ripped his top of just by flexing his nucles. "And a warm welcome to you all, peerage members of Rias Gremory. My name is Major Alex Louis Armstrong, of the illustrious Armstrong line! I serve as Master Deiru's Rook and military advisor!" he said, striking a pose.

Koneko stared at the huge man. ' _I haven't seen that many muscles since Mil-tan_ ,' she thought. Suddenly, her mind conjured an image of the two men together, Mil-tan providing the magical girl outfitd while Alex provided the real-life sparkles. She shuddered.

The other Rook gave them a lazy wave. "And I'm Ryuk, and a Shinigami, but you already knew that. By the way, now that the fight's over, I'm leaving to go get some apples," he said. And he did just that, by abruptly turning invisible and then flying out the open window.

Deiru sweatdropped. ' _I swear, sometimes my_ _Rooks_ _are the strangest people out of my peerage at times_ ,' he thought. "And lastly are my Pawns. We have the triplets, Canterbury, Thompson and Timber..." Said triplets all nodded. "Rize Kamishiro, a ghoul…" Rize smiled at them while wiping something that looked suspiciously like blood from the corner of her mouth. "The one Kikyo is carrying is Izuna Hatsuse, a Werebeast. Then there's Lucy, a member of a mutant species called the Diclonius…" Lucy merely stared at them.

Deiru was just about to introduce the next one when Rias's peerage took note of just who it was. "Mittelt!" Rias called, quickly calling forth her Powers of Destruction. Before any of the others could move, a red orb of energy was already being fired at the Fallen Angel.

Mittelt's eyes widened, and she froze in fear. As if time had slowed down, she could see as the orb approached her, an orb of the same damnable Power that had spelled her end the first time around. ' _Oh dear God, am I going to die again just like-'_ she thought, before a golden barrier suddenly sprung into existence in front of her.

The orb hit the barrier and exploded, releasing a shockwave of energy that nearly knocked her over. Deiru had his arm outstretched, and all of his previous cheer was gone. "Rias, it would wise if you didn't do that again. Mittelt is now my servant, and I take exception to having my servants attacked," he warned.

Rias looked at him. "But that Fallen, she-"

"Settled whatever feud she had with you with her death. It was my choice to give her a second life, and you have no say in that," he said, cutting her off.

Rias gritted her teeth. There was a tense moment of silence as the two Kings stared at one another, neither giving any ground. Eventually, however, Akeno broke it, asking "But how did you manage to revive her in first place? Rias's Power of Destruction made sure that there was nothing of her or the others left. Only feathers."

Deiru glanced over at her. "That is correct. However, you're assuming that there exists no power that can reverse that kind of devastation. My magic is one such power," he said. At seeing Akeno about to retort, he added "And no, I did not revive any of the other Fallen Angels. Just Mittelt."

At that, Rias sighed and slowly nodded. Deiru nodded in reply, and dismissed the barrier. "Now, with that taken care of, meet the last member of my peerage."

The last member was a young girl, who looked to be about Asia's age, with pale skin, long light purple hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a short light brown checkered skirt, a white sweatshirt with dark blue sleeves, dark and light purple stockings and white shoes. Around her left leg was a belt, and she was currently sucking on what appeared to be a lollipop. "This is Mizore Shirayuki, a Yuki-Onna and my last Pawn."

Mizore inclined her head, saying "It's very nice to meet you all."

Rias nodded. "Likewise. And now, it's my turn. This Akeno Himejima, my Queen and the Priestess of Thunder. Kiba Yuuto, my Knight and the holder of the **Sword Birth** Sacred Gear. Asia Argento, a former nun of the Christian Church, my  Bishop and the holder of **Twilight Healing**. And Issei Hyoudou, my sole  Pawn and wielder of the Longinus **Boosted Gear** ," she said, indicating each member in turn.

When the last of them were introduced, Deiru bowed in greeting. "Despite having gone to same school, it's nice to actually talk with all of you, with both sides knowing we're Devils," he commented.

The other chuckled in response to that, but then Issei raised his hand. "Um, I have a question. You said to Riser that you had a full peerage, but I don't see your Queen anywhere. Why's that?" he asked.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Behind Deiru, the members of his peerage had various reactions. Kikyo and Walter frowned, their lips drawn back into thin lines. Patchouli, Hannah, Alex and Rize all shivered if they had been hit with a cold breeze. The triplets huddled together and began whispering amongst themselves—unintentionally trapping Mittelt between them—and Mizore nearly swallowed her lollipop. The only ones to not react were Izuna, due to being unconscious, and Lucy, who didn't seem bothered at all.

Deiru stiffened and his eyes widened. "My Queen?" he asked. When Issei hesitantly nodded, the half-dragon replied "My Queen has some… issues… interacting with others, and can be prone to fits of violence. Not only that, but she has enough raw power to defeat anyone in my peerage besides myself, which was why I made her my Queen in the first place. So, I tend to keep her away from social gatherings or Rating Games, since killing is supposed to be avoided there."

That statement alone had Rias reeling. She had just seen firsthand how strong Deiru and his peerage could be, and he was saying that, out of all of them, he was the only one that could beat this unknown woman? The thought alone terrified her.

"But we're getting off topic. Now that introductions have been made, I plan on returning home to rest up. I'll see you at school tomorrow, Rias," Deiru said.

Rias nodded mutely, waving as he created a large magic circle and transported himself and his peerage away. Once they were gone, she couldn't help but mutter "Something tells me things are about to get a lot crazier."

* * *

Deiru sat in a circle with the other members of the ORC. Apparently, the Old Schoolhouse was having its annual 'Spring Cleaning' today, so Rias had decided that they would be using Issei's house as the place to meet up instead. Since the meeting was really to discuss the progress of Rias's peerage—and now that Rias knew that he was aware of that—he had been invited to attend as well.

Sitting on the edge of Issei's bed and holding her tea in her lap, Rias looked at them. "Now, then, let's get this meeting underway. This month's contract numbers are in. Akeno made a total of eleven contracts, Koneko made ten, Kiba made eight, Asia made three…" she said, causing Deiru to raise an eyebrow. A Devil for little more than a month and she was already making multiple contracts? Impressive.

"And Issei…" The brown-haired pervert looked at her. Rias sipped her tea. "…You made zero."

Issei rubbed the back of his head. "Man, this is embarrassing," he muttered.

"You know, unless you start making contracts, you'll never have the chance to become a High-Class Devil. And if that never happens, you'll never get that harem you've always wanted," Rias reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said, before clenching his fist. "That's why, next month, I'll do everything I need to reach first place!"

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and it opened to show Issei's mother. "Hey there, kids. I made you all some snacks for your little club!" she said, holding up a platter full of said snacks.

Akeno stood up and accepted them, saying "That's very kind of you, Hyoudou-san. Thank you."

The woman smiled. "Oh, you're such a polite young woman. In fact, I brought something that might help give your club some inspiration!" she said, holding up what looked like photo albums. Ones that specifically said 'Issei's Baby Pictures'.

Issei blanched. "Mom! Don't show them those!" he protested, reaching for the albums. But his mother was faster, and quickly began showing them to the female club members.

"See, this one is from when Issei was seven years old. Ever since then, he's always spent his time chasing after girls and their bottoms," she said.

"Oh, this one is so cute!" Asia squeaked, pointing to one of a naked toddler Issei running around the house. "The bare-naked truth about Issei's tiny past," Koneko added.

Deiru refrained from looking and contented himself with watching Issei. With each picture that was shown, a little more color drained from his face, until he looked as pale as a sheet. "My balls are getting busted by my own mother. Someone please kill me…" he heard him mutter, and Deiru chuckled.

"She seems like a nice woman to me," he said.

Issei glared at him. "Like you'd know, ass-hat!" he yelled.

Before Deiru to reply, they both heard Kiba say "Yeah, must be nice to have a family."

Both boys looked at him. "Wait. You mean… you don't have a family?" Issei asked.

Rather than respond, Kiba turned the page in one of the photo albums, and his smile immediately faded. "Hey, Issei. This picture…" he said, pointing

"Oh, that one? That kid used to live down the street from me, so we played together a lot. But then one of his parents got a job overseas, so they had to move. I can't quite remember his name though…" Issei said, thinking hard.

Curious, Deiru looked over Kiba's shoulder, and nearly had a heart-attack. In the picture was a child Issei—one that was fully clothed, thankfully—playing with another kind with light brown hair and purple eyes. But that wasn't what caught his attention. What _did_ catch his attention was that, mounted on the wall behind them, was a Holy Sword.

Apparently, that was what caught Kiba's attention too, as he asked, "This sword, do you remember it?"

"Not really. I was five," he replied.

"I see. Well, thanks. Great pictures," he said, closing the book and plastering a smile on his face. However, even Issei seemed to suspect that the smile was fake.

Deiru sat back. So Kiba had recognized the sword in the picture as a Holy Sword as well. That alone shouldn't have been surprising, considering his familiarity with swords, but the blonde's reaction to it was unusual. It was brief, hardly there long enough to be noticed, but he had caught a flicker of _hate_ in Kiba's eyes. As if he had come face to face with his worst enemy.

' _Exactly why would that be? Does Kiba have some history with Holy Swords?_ ' he wondered. This was worth investigating.

* * *

 **One week later…**

Deiru rose out of bed with a groan, feeling refreshed and ready to start the day. Things had been progressing rather nicely. Rias had become much more affectionate towards him after he had helped her, which meant that the odds of her joining the Khaos Brigade were now higher.

Furthermore, ever since the Rating Game had taken place, he was getting positively flooded by reporters from the Underworld. The brand-new Devil from an unknown house thrashing a member of the 72 Pillars was a great headline, and one that he was glad to supplement. Every media article made about him only served to boost his status in Devil society, which had been the entire point. Now, it was only a matter of time before he was officially recognized as a High-Class Devil, and he could truly start manipulating events in favor of the cause.

It was also much more gratifying to not have to hide his Devil heritage anymore, even if he still had to keep his status as being half-dragon under wraps. For now, at least.

After stepping out of the shower and seeing his uniform laid out on his bed by Hannah, he made sure to get ready. Even though he would like to be going out and doing other things to make a name for himself, he still had appearances to keep. And that meant going to school.

However, once he stepped out of his room, he saw Walter standing there in wait.

"Master, forgive the interruption, but you have a guest," he said, bowing.

Deiru raised an eyebrow. "A guest? What, is Kuroka here to try and seduce me again?" he asked.

The aged vampire shook his head. "On the contrary, the guest is none other than your mother. She's waiting for you in the dining room."

What? Only a week had passed, and Ophis was already here? What could this possibly be about? Still, he didn't let his surprise show on his face, and nodded. "Very well. I'll see her at once," he said, and began walking towards the dining room.

His mother was there, sitting at table and nibbling on what appeared to be a large cookie while in her Lolita form. If it wasn't for the fact that she was his mother, as well as a Dragon God eons old and had more power than even the Biblical God, he might have considered the image cute.

As it was, he dropped to one knee once she noticed his arrival, and bowed his head. "Mother, it is good to see you again," he said.

Ophis set down her cookie and stood up. Once she was in front of him, she crossed her arms. For a moment, there was silence, and then she said, "Word has reached me about your victory against the Phenex."

Deiru nodded, but said nothing. She continued "I had no reason to believe that you would be unable to defeat this Devil, and you have proven me right. What was more, your maid has told me that you didn't even unleash half of your maximum power in order to do so. Is this true?"

"Yes, Mother, it was. Riser's immortality made injuring him difficult, but he depended on it far too much and did not possess enough power to do me any real harm," he said.

Ophis nodded as well. "I thought as much. And with your victory, you have launched yourself in the Devils' spotlight, increasing your prominence amongst them, just as you predicted," she said, before looking down at him. "When you first gave you this mission, your orders were to recruit Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri while keeping your Devil status a secret. Or, if you were unable to do so, to reveal you Devil blood and obtain a high-ranking position in the Underworld."

"Given what you have done, I would consider the second objective as having been fulfilled. Thus, your first mission as part of the Khaos Bridge is now complete," she declared.

Deiru looked up at his mother in surprise. Upon seeing that, yes, she was serious, he allowed himself to smile. This is what he had always wanted. From the moment he had been born, Ophis had never tried to hide the fact that she had bred him for one purpose: to defeat Great Red and exile him from the Dimensional Gap.

The Khaos Brigade had been built for the very same reason, and thus he considered the success of the Brigade to be synonymous with his own purpose in life. Thus, hearing that he had succeeded, and brought his mother's dream one step closer to fruition… that gave him the ultimate joy.

Lowering himself to be on both knees, Deiru pressed his head to the ground. "You have no idea how much this mean to me, Mother. Thank you," he said.

On her part, Ophis made a small smile. Her relationship with her son was not the same as what she had seen between other mothers and their children, likely due to her own lack of skill at emotions and communication. But seeing her son express such happiness because of her… it felt nice.

"Your welcome, my son. But now I bid that you rise. There is no rest for the weary, and unsuspecting events had caused a new assignment to be available to you," she told him.

Humming in surprise, Deiru stood up. "Oh? And what might my new assignment be?"

Now having to look up at her son, she said "You are familiar with the sword Excalibur, correct?

Deiru nodded. "I believe so. If my memory serves true, Excalibur is a powerful Holy Sword being held by the Church. However, it was broken into several pieces and scattered across the world," he said, before frowning. "Actually, don't we already have one of those pieces in our possession?"

"Correct. Currently, we possess the fragment called Excalibur Ruler, and it is being used by a descendant of its original wielder, King Arthur. The other six fragments were being kept under lock and key by Eastern Orthodox Church, the Protestant Church, and the Catholic Church in Vatican City. Until recently."

At her son's questioning look, Ophis continued "Recently, multiple pieces of Excalibur were stolen by an unknown group or individual, depriving the Church of one of its most prized possessions. They are doing their best to keep this fact from getting out, but our agents were able to uncover it and relay the information to us."

Starting to get an idea, Deiru said "And you want me to try and find these fragments before the Church does?"

Ophis nodded. "Correct. Just one piece of Excalibur can be powerful in the right hands; having all seven together would provide a huge boon to our forces. Therefore, I want you and your peerage to investigate as to the possible location of the missing fragments and, if possible, obtain them. This is your assignment."

Deiru bowed once more. "Then consider it done, Mother. I will find the pieces of the Holy Sword and bring them into our possession," he said.

"Good. Now, I will need to leave, as I have other matters to attend to. Farewell, Son," his mother said, before casually creating a rip in space-time and walking through it.

Once she was gone, Deiru grinned. Oh, he could tell that this was going to be fun.

* * *

Mittelt sighed as she languished in the ruins of the old church. Deiru had given her free rein to do whatever she wanted during her spare time, as long as it didn't cause problems for Rias or Sona. So she ended spending a lot of that time here. Not for sentimental reasons, like how this was the last place where Raynare and the others had lived, but because she just felt more at home in the church.

Fallen though she may be, she was still an angel.

However, her relaxation was interrupted by two energy signatures, ones that appeared to be moving towards her. Both of them were releasing large amounts of holy energy, the kind only possible by angels or exorcists.

Quickly, Mittelt flew up and hid in the rafters of the building, waiting to see who it was. Whoever they were, she was certain they weren't supposed to be here.

The two intruders entered the church through the front door, bold as brass. Although they were wearing white cloaks that hid their faces, their forms showed that they were women, and young women at that. Not only that, but one of them had a huge sword strapped to her back, which was one of the energy signatures she had sensed.

Looking around at the dilapidated state of the building, the one with the huge sword said "'Utter ruin' would be the best phrase to describe this level of destruction. It's sad to see a House of God fall this far."

The other woman said "Rumor has it that there was a disturbance here recently, between a group of Devils and Fallen Angels."

"I see," the first one said, before removing her hood. She was indeed a young woman, one with yellow eyes and blue hair, though part of her hair was dyed green. "Are you sure that this is place? We're supposed to meet our contact here?" she asked.

The other one also removed her hood, showing off her light brown hair held up in twin-tails and purple eyes. "Come on, give me a little credit. Not only am I sure, but I used to live in this town as a kid!" she said, holding up a picture.

Mittelt gasped. The photo showed her and that pervert Pawn who was serving under Rias Gremory. So, these two were exorcists were here to meet someone, and one them knew Rias's servant. Deiru would want to hear about this.

Unfortunately, her gasp alerted the two exorcists to her presence, and they both whirled to look in her direction. "Who's there? Show yourself!" the blue-haired one demanded.

Mittelt cursed and tried to think of a way out of this. This wasn't like the exorcists that had been under Raynare's command, who she could just boss around. Nor did she think she could overpower them, not with that giant sword Holy Sword. Maybe she could just fly away?

The decision was made for her when the woman pulled the sword from her back and unwrapped it. The sword had a grip long enough for several hands with a cross in the pommel. The guard was shaped like an axe and connected to the blade by a chain, while the blade itself ended in three points. The moment it was unveiled, it began glowing with an aura of holy power, causing Mittelt to freeze.

' _Oh, shit. That's not just a Holy Sword. That's a piece of fucking Excalibur!_ ' she thought. No way in hell was she going to go against something like that, especially since she was now part-Devil. Just one cut with that thing and she could dead. Again.

But before she could flee, the woman leaped towards her position with surprising strength, rising over ten feet in the air. "Feel the wrath of God!" she called, and swung. Even though the sword touched nothing, the air in front of it exploded in a blast strong enough to shake the whole building, as well as force Mittelt out from her hiding place.

Quickly, she spread her wings to avoid falling, and hovered the air. The twin-tailed one girl gasped. "So, it's true! There were Fallen Angels here! And one of them stuck around!" she said.

The blonde gritted her teeth. "I have a name, you know. It's Mittelt, one of the most badass Fallen Angels to have ever graced your puny presences!" she yelled.

'Blue-Hair' narrowed her eyes. "Is that so? In that case, Mittelt, allow me to show you the power of Excalibur Destruction!" she called, and charged again. She swung her sword but Mittelt conjured a pair of light-spears, blocking it. However, the moment their two weapons made contact, the enemy created another explosion that sent Mittelt flying until she hit the wall. It also left her covered in several burns.

Mittelt groaned. A Holy Sword that makes explosions? Perfect. Just fucking perfect. The other exorcist frowned. "Um, Xenovia? Do you want my help killing this Fallen?" she asked.

Xenovia shook her head. "No, Irina. This spawn is far weaker than the enemies we've been trained to fight. I can handle her on my own," she said.

At that, Mittelt's temper flared, and any thoughts of leaving fled her mind. "In your dreams, bitch!" she yelled, and conjured several light-spears before throwing them. Xenovia blocked each of them and either deflected the spears off into the walls or ground, taking a chunk out of the building with each one, or sent them right back at Mittelt.

She kept the barrage going for almost half a minute, before finally stopping to catch her breath. That gave Xenovia the chance to attack again, and shot forward. She blocked the Holy Sword but was once again caught in the ensuing explosion, causing her to crash into the wall once again.

"Okay, that's getting really old, really fast!" Mittelt roared. She spread her arms out and created one massive spear, one that grew in size as she poured more power into it. Whether it was due to caution or arrogance, Xenovia let her charge up the attack. Once the spear was the size of two horses, Mittelt said "This ought to finish you!" and fired it.

The spear shot forward and break-neck speeds, ready to impale Xenovia and fry her from the inside… when she created another explosion the moment it was in range. The two attacks detonated in blasts that sent both parties flying, Mittelt more-so than the exorcists.

Once the smoke cleared, both of them were still standing while Mittelt had fallen to her knees, completely drained after that last attack. Slowly, in cast there was some sort of trick, Xenovia approached her. Once she was standing overt the Fallen Angel, she said "It is a shame to see a creation of God fall into sin. Allow me to purify you to a state of holiness."

Mittelt looked up as she raised her sword, ready to deliver the killing blow. This was it. Unlike last time, there was no one from Deiru's peerage around to save her. She was going to die, and that was it. She hadn't even gotten the chance to live a full life yet.

But that thought, if anything, gave her strength.

Acting with speed she didn't know she had, Mittelt conjured a light-spear and threw it. At such close range, Xenovia didn't a chance to block and was stabbed through the stomach, causing her stumble back. While the other girl, Irina, called "Xenovia!" and rushed towards her comrade, Mittelt took the chance to rise into the air.

"Screw both of you; I'm getting out of here!" she declared, and flew out of the hole in the church's roof.

* * *

 **The next day…**

Deiru stood in front of the door to the ORC, arms crossed and with a very displeased expression on his face. Mittelt and Hannah were standing next to him, the former looking even more pissed off than he was. Once he was let in by Akeno, he marched right up to Rias and sat down in front of her desk. Smiling at him, the redhead said "Deiru, it's good to see you again. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Oh, nothing much. It's just that, last night, one of my servants was attacked by a pair of exorcists who appeared at the edge of the town. Exorcists wielding Holy Swords, nonetheless. Care to explain to me why that happened?" he asked, gesturing towards Mittelt and not even bothering to hide how upset he was at this.

Rias's smile faded and she looked at him, before eventually sighing. "I can explain, yes. I was planning on telling you later today, but two representatives from the Church were meant to have arrived in town last night. They've already spoken to Sona, and apparently wanted to meet with me today regarding something. But I had no idea they would attack your servants."

Deiru frowned further. On one hand, he was furious at having one of his subordinates attacked for no good reason. But on the other, if what Mittelt told him was any indication, these two had one, maybe even two pieces of Excalibur. If he could find a way to… 'confiscate' these exorcists of their weapons, he'd already be done with one third of his assignment.

"I see. In that case, since this is obviously a matter regarding both Devils and the Church, I wish to remain here when the meeting occurs," he said.

Rias nodded. "Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way."

And with that, the two of them waited until the rest of Rias's peerage arrived, while Hannah assisted Akeno with offering refreshments.

He could sense the exorcists even before they arrived, making no effort to hide the energy of either themselves or their weapons. Once they were let in, Rias took charge and said "So, these are the members of the Church that wanted to meet with me. My name is Rias of the House of Gremory. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Irina nodded. "Please, the pleasure is ours. My name is Irina Shidou, and this is my partner, Xenovia Quarta!" she said, gesturing to the blue-haired woman next to her.

"Charmed," Xenovia said, before taking notice of my presence. "And who might you be?" she asked.

Deiru said "My name is Deiru Ouroboros, of the Ouroboros family. I understand you recently had a dispute with one of my servants." At that point, Mittelt stepped forward, and both girls' eyes widened.

"Wait a minute. That Fallen Angel is your servant? Since when have they started taking order from Devils?" Irina asked, confused.

Mittelt huffed and was about to issue some sort of scathing comment when Deiru stopped her, saying "Since I gave her a second life following her death at the hands of another Devil. A life your partner almost ended for no reason."

Xenovia stiffened. "I was unaware that this Fallen was your servant, Deiru Ouroboros. Please, accept my apology," she said. However, it was easy to see that she was not sincere in her apology, something that caused Deiru's eyes to narrow even further.

Before any fighting could break out, Rias said "Getting back to the purpose of this meeting, I'm curious why members of the Church would seek an audience with a Devil."

"It does seem a bit random, I'll admit. But its recently come to light that, of the six pieces of Excalibur in the Church's possession, three of them have been stolen, and it's been determined that the Fallen Angels were behind the theft," Irina told us.

Rias's peerage reacted with surprise. "Whoa, are you serious?" Issei asked.

Rias hummed. "That is a serious issue. So, what can we do to help with recovering the stolen pieces?" she asked.

That was when Xenovia's expression turned hostile, and she said "You can help us by staying completely out of it. This issue is between the Church and the Fallen. We don't need the Devils here to intervene in our business."

Deiru raised both eyebrows. "If that's your attempt at asking us to leave you alone, you're doing a very poor job of it. What, are you afraid that we'll side with the Fallen to keep you from getting them back?" he asked, while mentally adding ' _Though, she's not that far off mark, in my case.'_

"We know that, for you Devils, the very existence of Holy Swords is despicable. Wouldn't it make more sense for you to side with the Fallen Angels? If that is the case, we'll have no choice but to completely destroy you, sister of Lucifer or not," Xenovia countered.

Rias's fists clenched, and her eyes began glowing red. "Well, since you already think you have it all figured out, let me point something out to you. There is no chance in this life or any other that I would join sides with the Fallen Angels. Doing so would drag the name of my family, my brother and myself through the mud. And I have no intention of doing that," she said tartly.

Xenovia smirked. "That's all we needed to hear. To be honest, I didn't think the younger sister of Lucifer would be foolish enough to start a fight, so it's good that I was right," she said. With that, she and Irina stood, and began walking out.

Deiru resisted the urge to attack them right then and there. Not only was that Xenovia's arrogance grating on his nerves, but two pieces of Excalibur were less than ten feet away! It'd be so easy to unseal his power, knock them both out, and then steal their swords. But doing so would create utter bedlam for himself and the others, and it was that knowledge that stayed his hand.

But just as they were leaving, Xenovia took notice of Asia standing with the others, and paused. "I was wondering if being in this town would lead us to you. Aren't you Asia Argento?" she asked.

Asia blinked. "Um, yes? Yes, I am," she said.

Xenovia nodded. "A town under the control of Devils… It makes sense that I'd run into a witch here," she said.

Asia's eyes went huge, and the rest of the peerage gasped in shock. Even I was surprised; this level of boldness was something even Riser hadn't possessed.

Irina looked closer at Asia. "Oh my gosh, you're right, it is her. I heard that you were a saint who became a witch because you had the power to heal Fallen Angels and Devils! And that, one time, you even did just that! You must be pretty strong! Though, I didn't think you'd become a Devil yourself," she stated.

Throughout that, Asia started trembling, and it only grew worse with every sentence Irina spouted out. Grabbing one of her shoulders, Issei asked "Asia, are you okay?"

"She went from being a saint to being a Devil. That's the farthest that one can possibly fall. Of course, she's not 'okay'," Xenovia said. Issei looked ready to fight her, but Koneko held him back. "I've heard that there are members of the faith who, every after betraying us, still believe in God. Tell me, Asia Argento, are you one of those people?"

Asia grabbed the front of her skirt tight enough that her knuckles turned white. "Y-Yes… I do. No matter what, I've never been able to give up on God. I've believed in Him this whole time," she said, looking one step away from bursting into tears.

Xenovia stepped forward and pulled Excalibur Destruction from her back. "Then you should allow us to exorcise you this instant," she said. When Asia looked at her in shock, she pressed on "Even though you have committed the worst sin possible, if you give up your soul to God you may still be forgiven. Let Him work through my hand to pull you from damnation."

At that, even Deiru had enough, and he snorted. "Even if you did try to kill anyone here, it isn't as if you would succeed. With all of us together, we would wipe the floor with both of you before you even drew your swords," he stated.

Xenovia looked at him. "Is that so? Are you willing to take on the entire Church? That's pretty big talk for one Devil," she said.

Deiru laughed, and stood. Walking closer to her, he said "Oh, if only you knew…" Before anyone could move, he reached forward and grabbed her shoulder, while also conjuring a barrier around himself and Xenovia. Xenovia's eyes widened and she reached to unwrap her blade, but then Deiru muttered " **Power Restriction Release: Level 7**."

Seals on the back and palm of both hands, his shoulders and the small of his back glowed before vanishing, and Deiru's power came bursting forth. Xenovia went frozen stiff at the sensation, feeling like she had just been enveloped in a tsunami of pure energy, the likes of which she had never felt.

She looked up at Deiru. ' _What… What is this? This power… he didn't even have a fraction of this moments ago!_ ' she mentally yelled. But when she tried to speak, it was as if her tongue was stuck in her throat. She tried, but couldn't even make a sound.

The air around them seemed to shimmer like a heat wave. When she looked up into Deiru's eyes, she saw that they were glowing their respective colors and the pupils had turned to slits. Upon seeing those eyes, her mind was bombarded with a series of gruesome images.

There was herself standing before a massive, black-scaled dragon with devilish horns. The same dragon catching and crushing her between its countless teeth, tearing flesh from bone and limb from limb. Deiru with one arm and leg covered in scales, using his claws to tear her stomach open and let her organs spilling out… It just kept coming.

The landscape around her started to lose its color, turning everything to shades of black, white and gray. Her knees felt like they would fail her at any moment, and her bladder felt one second away from giving in.

' _The last time I felt power like this, I was standing in front of Michael-sama_ ,' she thought. But unlike the Angel, whose power was filled with a sense of warmth, love and serenity, Deiru's power lacked any of that. His power was like a storm:wild, barely tamed, and ready to devour her—mind, body and soul—in an instant.

Deiru smiled down at her, showing sharpened teeth. His voice also sounded distorted, as if she was hearing him from underwater. " **Tell me, foolish girl, do you really think it a wise idea to challenge** _ **me**_ **?** " he asked.

Almost without her input, the muscles in her neck moved, and she shook her head.

And just like that, it vanished. Her sight returned to normal, the sensation of power disappeared, and Deiru let go of her shoulder. The barrier also dispelled, and he stepped back with a smile. "Good. It's nice to know that we understand each other. Please fare well with your investigation, Xenovia-san," he said.

Xenovia stared at him for several moments. When she saw that he was being serious, she tried to pull herself together enough to bow. "Er, yes. T-Thank you for your time, Rias-san, Deiru-san. We'll… we'll be going now," she said, and quickly walked out, pulling a confused Irina with her.

The others all watched them go with shock, before looking at Deiru. "Dude, not that I'm complaining, but what the hell did you _do_ to her?" Issei asked.

Looking back at the Pawn, Deiru chuckled. "Oh, nothing special. Just showed her the errors of her ways… in a rather harsh manner," he said, before sitting back down. "Hannah, could you be a dear and get me some Earl Gray, please?" he asked.

The lavender-haired maid smiled and nodded. "At once, my lord," she said, and moved into the other room to begin making the tea.

Outside of the Old Schoolhouse, Irina managed to break free from Xenovia's grasp and stood her ground. "Xenovia, what the heck's going on? Why did you just up and leave like that? What happened between you and that Deiru guy just now?"

Xenovia took in a deep breath, trying to calm down her racing heart. Even now, she could still feel adrenaline coursing through her, coupled with the instinct to simply get as far away from Deiru as possible.

"Irina," she said, catching the girl's attention. "We'll continue to look for the missing pieces of Excalibur, just as planned. But no matter what happens, no matter what we do, we _cannot_ afford to fight the Devils here. Especially not him."

Irina blinked. "Xenovia, this is totally unlike you. Why are so scared of him? When he was standing in front of you, I didn't even feel a thing coming from him," she said.

Xenovia looked at Irina in shock, before piecing it together. ' _Of course. That's why he used that barrier. So that the moment he unsealed her power, the only who could feel it… would be me_ ,' she realized. Shaking her head, she said aloud "Just trust me on this, Irina. That man, that _monster_ , is something that should never have existed. If we fight him, we will die."

She said nothing more on the subject, and started walking back towards the church. With any luck, the Fallen Angel servant of his wouldn't still be there, and they could avoid any reason to see Deiru again.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap on this chapter. I would have gotten it out a week sooner, but my family ended up taking a week-long vacation to visit some more of my family down in Mississippi. But hey, at least I got to see the ocean with own eyes for the second time ever, and that was fun. So, now that I'm back, hopefully I can start uploading more regularly. In either case, stay tuned!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


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